Page 61 of Savage Assassin

We set out after breakfast, walking up the beach to the jungle-like treeline up ahead. “Stay close to me,” I warn Elena. “I don’t know what’s out there.” I hand her the knife, handle pointed towards her, as we near the trees. “Just in case. I have my gun.”

She swallows hard, but nods, taking the knife and holding it tightly in one hand as we find a path through the trees, and walk into the soft, slightly muddy ground just beyond.

“That’s a good sign.” I nod at the ground. “There should be fresh water somewhere, then. It hasn’t rained in the last few days. We just need to look for it.”

“Do we have any way to purify it?” Elena frowns. “What if–”

“We’ll have to take our chances,” I tell her honestly. “It might not be the safest water, but it’s better than salt water or none. It’ll be the best chance we have.”

She nods, and I can see the nervousness in her eyes. “We’ll just take the chance then,” she says, as bravely as I think she can. “Let’s keep looking.”

There are a few possibilities for food that I see—some berries and a fungus growing at the base of a tree we pass, but it’s nothing that I know for certain won’t poison us. If it comes down to it, I think I might choose the risk of poison over starvation–but for me, there’s a faster way out than that if I know there’s no hope of rescue.

I can’t think about that as long as Elena is still alive, though. And I’m not willing to test uncertain foods on her.

“I think I hear something!” she calls out as we walk a little further past the trees, dodging a tangle of vines as she picks her way through the increasingly muddy ground. “There might be–”

We push through the tangle, and that’s when I hear it, too–the unmistakable bubbling sound of a stream.

“Thankfuck,” I murmur, reaching for her arm to make sure she stays close as we make our way toward it. Food we can go without for a while, if we have to, but we wouldn’t last long without water. It’s a risk, without any way to purify it, but it’s better than nothing. “Do you have the other water bottles?”

Elena nods, pulling them out of the bag we’d brought with us. “Here you go,” she says, setting them down next to me.

I crouch down by the stream, cupping my hands and lifting them to my mouth to take a small sip. It tastes fine at first impression, clean and clear, and all we can do is hope for the best. I twist the cap off of the first bottle, dunking it into the stream to fill it, and I see Elena out of the corner of my eye, picking her way down the path.

“Don’t go too far,” I call out after her. “We’ll head back as soon as I’m done with this.”

“Alright!” she shouts back, and I go back to filling the bottles, screwing the lid tightly back on each one as I put it into the bag.

When I look up, Elena is nowhere to be seen.

“Fuck,” I breathe, looking down the path. “Elena!”

I call out her name, but there’s no answer. I can feel my jaw tense with frustration as I sling the bag over my shoulder, following her footprints as I head in the direction I saw her walking off in.I told her not to go too far,I think, with a slowly building irritation as I see the footsteps going further off the path.

“Elena!” I call out again, sliding my gun free as I glance around. I don’t think there’s much chance of there being any other people out here, but there’s absolutely a chance of there being other things that could hurt her. I clench my teeth with frustration, trying not to let my mind run away with too many possibilities before I know there’s a reason to panic.

And then I hear her scream.

I know it’s her–a high, thin, reedy sound that I recognize as her voice. “Elena!” I shout her name, turning in the direction that I’m fairly certain I heard it coming from, and then I hear the scream once more.

“Levin! Help!”

I break into a run in the direction of her voice, my chest seizing with fear. I hear her shriek again, and then I turn a corner around another tangle of vines to see her sprawled in the dirt, tears running down her pale, fear-stricken face.

“Levin!”

Her ankle is twisted under her, but she’s trying to crawl forward. She twists as she sees me, pointing with a look of horror on her face, and I see in an instant what she’s so frightened of.

Moving towards her in a sinuous slither is what looks like a boa constrictor, big enough to kill her if it gets to her, its tongue flicking out as it gets closer.

Elena shrieks again, pulling herself forward in the mud, but it’s gaining on her.Not for long,I think with a sudden, furious surety as I aim the gun, finger curling around the trigger.

“Elena!Do not move!”

She freezes in place at the sound of my voice, even though I know everything in her must be screaming for her to keep trying to flee as the massive snake gets closer. I aim as carefully as I can, wanting to be absolutely sure that I don’t hit her by accident–and I squeeze.

Elena lets out a startled cry as the gunshot goes off. It misses the snake’s head by an inch, and it hisses, recoiling as I aim once more–and this time, I hit it, the bullet striking it squarely in the head.

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