We took a moment to catch our breaths, after an exhausting couple of days it was almost over. All of us grunted and moan as we stood, deciding we should go down to the raft, deciding what we needed before we went back on the river. We started a small fire and boiled some water in pots we had found, probably left after Jack emptied the backpack. We washed off as much of the mud, blood and grime we could in the river. The sun began to rise as we boarded the raft, ready coast down the river, we hand enough water for the day or two we would spend drifting back home. I tended to Bill's wounds the best I could. Gail and Cole sat on the opposing side of where Bill and I were. Sam sat on the corner nearest to Bill and I. Kong sat in Gail's lap touching her face and neck.
"You two look like you made up." Cole said as he paddled the raft.
"He's not so bad." Gail said about the monkey.
"How's that?" I asked Bill as I motioned for Sam to help me tie the wrap.
"Much better." he said with a smirk. "I think I'll live."
"Good. It's kind of nice having you around." I said smirking up at him. Sam exchanged a look with Cole and Gail I assumed it was about my sweet talk to Bill. I gave a low contained laugh.
"So how much further to my bath?" Gail asked.
"Kotabaru?" Bill questioned. "I'd say at least another day down river."
"Another day?" Cole exclaimed. "I'm not rowing another day, homeboy."
"All right." I said with a smirk as I turned around sitting on the edge of the raft next to Bill.
"Let's see we got this shortcut right up—" Bill said jokingly.
"NO!" We all exclaimed and chuckled.
"So did you really have seats between Spike and Woody?" I asked Cole as he set the paddle on the empty corner of the raft next to him. He sighed with a smirk.
"Close enough." he said, we all gave him fake frowns.
We sailed down the river for a couple of hours discussing music, movies, sports, entertainment and places we've been. None of us wanted to face the fact of what had happened in the last couple of days, how many people had lost their lives, that their mission was a failure.
"Ooh, look a mango tree." I said a couple minutes after silence. The tree was a little off of the shore line, looking like a deacon of beauty.
"I guess we'll take a break here." Bill said as he grabbed the paddle and led them towards the shore.
"I want my bath." Gail said as the raft shook a little as it came in contact with the shore.
"I do too. But if we want to be alive by the time we get to town, to take a bath, we have to eat." I said as I got up and walked to the tree, Kong ran in front of me and up the tree.
Everyone followed and we stood under the tree waiting for Kong to throw down some mango's. We caught a good bundle of mango's that Kong threw down and went back to the raft. Bill took out his knife and began carving into the mango's and handing them out.
"Oh, my God! These are amazing!" Sam said with her mouth full of mango. I smiled and nodded my head to her with my mouth full as well.
The sweet nectar from the mango trickled down my throat. I realized how long it had been since any of us had eaten. We all looked up at each other with that realization, chewing the food a little slower enjoying every morsel. Ever since the cave in at the gorge my adrenaline had begun to wear off. The pain from my hand was getting worse by the moment. I winced as I tried to move one of my fingers.
"Mitra?" Bill asked, I looked up at him to see concern on his face. I looked at my hand and back at him. He placed his knife down and moved a little closer to me, putting his hand to my head and frowned a little. He grabbed my arm and began unwrapping my hand.
"Shit" he said as pulling the last part of the bandage away. I looked down at my hand, scared at what I would see. It looked worse than before, I couldn't believe it was getting worse. The small wounds of split skin had become infected.
"Oh, damn!" Cole said as he saw my hand.
"Oh, my God!" Sam and Gail murmured.
"You're starting to get a fever." Bill said as he re-wrapped the for sure broken hand. "You need to rest or you're going to get sick and go into shock." He grabbed a blanket that had been stored in Cole''s backpack. He set it up against the side of him, motioning for me to lay down. My head hit the makeshift pillow and my body started to relax. "I'll wake you up when we get there." He ran his hand through my hair as I fell asleep to Cole, Sam and Gail talking about my situation and my hand.
…...
I could feel Bill pick me up and carefully carry me, struggling as I assumed he was carrying me off of the raft. I forced my eyes open and looked up at him, he was visibly worried.
"Cole! Dial this number." Bill said handing someone something.
"Another one of your friends?" a woman asked in a smart ass tone.
"Yeah, Tran's cousin." Bill said with a little bit of venom. My eyes refused to open all the way and shut immediately. I felt Bill's muscles move around me as he let out a sigh.
"Could you?" Bill asked, most likely the same person that he handed whatever to earlier. I opened my eyes to see Bill struggling to keep a payphone between his head and his shoulder.
"Bill." I said weakly, he looked down at me with those worried eyes.
"Uh, hey Langgeng. I need your help." Bill said into the phone.
"Yeah, I know. I have to talk to you as well but right now I need to get to the nearest hospital." Bill paused for a moment.
"Yeah. We had a hell of a last couple of days. Mitra's hurt bad. The people on the job we were on are sick." he paused for another moment feeling his muscles tense I knew exactly what Langgeng said.
"Lang... Lang... I'm so sorry... Tran's dead. I'll tell you about it, but right now I need you to come get us please." Bill pleaded. "Thanks, man see you in a minute. Sorry again." Someone grabbed the phone from him.
"He'll be here in a few minutes." Bill said as he adjusted so he had a better grip on me. No one dared say anything to rebuttal his statement. I passed back out before I could try and say Bill's name again.
…...
"Yes, we were in a boating accident along the Mendranang. We've been floating down the river on a raft in for the last couple of days." I could hear Bill explained to someone. I opened one eye to try and see what was going on, curious at the conversation. White walls greeted me along with an annoying steady beeps. We were in the hospital.
"What's wrong with her?" someone said in a thick Indonesian accent.
"She got into a fight with one of the crew after the accident. They disagreed on something or other." Bill said lying. Of course he was lying. No one would believe them if we told them the truth. Who would believe in freakishly large snakes eating people and a flower that made them that way.
"How long ago?" the person asked, feeling my forehead.
"About a couple of days ago." Bill said.
"She punched the other person?" the person asked as a rolling noise came close to me. I assumed it was either a doctor or a cop, probably the former.
"Yes." Bill asked a little unsure.
"We need to get her in an examining room right now." the man said to others. Bill set me down on a bed and was wheeled away as I blacked out.
…...
I woke up with a bright white light hitting my face. I felt so tired, yet I was waking up. I lifted my left hand to act as a shield from the light, well until my eyes got used to the light. I heard a soft mumble and looked down to my right. Bill was asleep with his arms wrapped beneath his head, next to my leg below my broken hand. My attention went to my heavily wrapped hand and part of my arm. It was in a hard cast, those kind that you get when your a little kid. I tried to move one of my fingers and still had a good amount of pain with it. I sighed and put my left hand down, my eyes now used to the light. I stretched my legs and felt relief as they stretched for the first time in... how long had I been asleep? My stretching caused Bill to wake up. He ran his hand over his face and looked at me with a big ol' smile.
"Hey beautiful." he said as he got up and kissed my forehead.
"Hey." I said a little weakly. My voice was a little hoarse. "How long have I been asleep?" I asked.
"About 36 hours, give or take a couple." he said as he pulled his chair closer to the bed and sat back down.
"Yeah, I remember bits and parts of getting here. Like the call to Lang, a little bit of the drive and you explaining everything to the doc." I said as a wave of emotions came over me. I look Bill in the eyes as if secretly asking him if all that happened. He squinted his eyes making him appear older and sadder. A single tear ran down my face, seconds later the dam broke, as tears acted like a waterfall pouring down my face. Bill got up and sat next to me on the bed and wrapped his arm around my shoulders as I sobbed the death of Tran, our house, our possessions, our job. Basically everything was gone, save for Kong and the clothes we were wearing, and each other.