Prey

She nodded and undid her own jacket. Mick waited until she was done shucking her winter clothes and then did the same. Julia watched his jacket come off and reveal the massive size of his arms. Sweat still coated his skin, making him resemble some type of oiled bodybuilder.

And Julia didn't mind one bit.

He hefted his rifle and when everyone had stowed their gear under the largest palm shrub nearby, where it hopefully couldn't be easily spotted, Mick pointed to the path.

Time to follow it and see how far it went.

Julia took a final glimpse back at the cave opening and then turned and followed Mick into the jungle.

17

The trail sloped gently downward, winding as it went, leading them further into heavy undergrowth. A steady breeze swept through the leaves and branches of various shrubs and small trees. Julia marveled at how such an ecosystem could even exist in the middle of a mountain.

Mick never stopped eyeing the path as it led them deeper into the jungle. Julia could feel the tension coming off his body in waves. He was primed, she thought. Ready to explode into action if needed.

They had to keep stopping for Darren who would break ranks and examine every new plant he saw, exclaiming about how rare it was.

"Darren!" Julia said it for what felt like the millionth time. "We have to keep moving."

Wilkins whispered something in Darren's ear, which made the young man's face go pale. He stood, grabbed his rifle and hurried back into the line.

Julia grabbed Wilkins. "What did you say to him?"

Wilkins' face was stone. "I told him that if he brought down any heat on us from those creatures, I'd kill him myself."

He turned and continued walking. Julia watched him go and wondered what was happening to her team.

Mick called a halt a few minutes later and they formed up. Mick kept his voice low and soft, but audible at the same time.

"The path forks up ahead."

Worried expressions bloomed on the faces of the team. Nung cleared his throat. "Please tell me you aren't going to suggest we split up."

Mick shrugged. "It'd save a lot of time if we did. We could cover more ground and possibly locate our missing people even faster."

"And we could blunder into an ambush and get killed off a lot easier if there are less of us to fight," said Darren. "No thanks."

Mick glanced at Julia. "It's your decision."

Julia looked at her team. She could feel their stares. She could tell they were scared. And she knew that she'd have to go against Mick on this on.

"We stay together," she said finally.

Mick nodded. "Fair enough. Left or right?"

"Sorry?"

"Which way do you want to go? The path goes in one of two directions."

Julia shrugged. "How about left?"

"Sounds good." Mick stood and grabbed his rifle If he was upset that Julia had overruled his motion to split the team, he didn't show it.

Nung wandered past. "Thanks, boss."

"Forget it."

She trailed behind, wondering what they'd managed to get themselves into.

Mick led them left and they walked another couple of hundred yards when his fist shot into the sky and they all crouched low and off the main trail. Mick got down on his hands and knees and slow-crawled ahead.

He disappeared around another corner.

Julia waited.

Where had he gone? Why hadn't he motioned her forward? She hoped he wasn't making any more decisions she'd end up overruling. She didn't want to piss him off too much. She didn't want to hurt her chances of possibly having some sort of relationship with him when this whole crazy mess was at last behind them.

Mick didn't reappear after five minutes and Julia felt the pit of her stomach start to ache. Where was he?

Wilkins tapped her on the shoulder but she only shrugged it off as if to say, "how the hell would I know?"

Darren exchanged glances with Nung. Nung glanced at Wilkins who shrugged just as Julia had.

What were they waiting for? What was going on around the corner.

After ten minutes, Julia couldn't take it anymore. She looked at Wilkins and nodded once. That was all it took. Wilkins crawled past Nung and Darren and disappeared around the same corner.

Julia thought she heard something then. Nothing much, just a muffled sort of movement. Had Wilkins been attacked? No. He would have been able to squeeze of a shot at least. Taking him down wasn't easy.

So what had happened?

Her stomach ached more than ever. Part of her desperately wanted to find the nearest rock and go relieve herself in the big way. But she couldn't. Was this one of the joys of leadership? Was this what the pressure did to you? Did it squeeze all the worry and fear into a pulsing globe of hell and push it down into the depths of your bowels?

Sure felt that way.

Nifty, thought Julia. All the way at the bottom of the world and not a bottle of Imodium AD in sight.

Where the hell was Wilkins?

Just as she was about to crawl on ahead herself, she saw Mick come crawling back followed closely by Wilkins. Relief flooded her at the same rate as anger. She motioned for them both to come to her.