I was woken up the next morning by something hitting the side of the boat. I felt Bill moving beside me
"What was that?" I asked him
"I don't know let me see." He said and got up I laid back down only to have Kong jump on the bed with me.
"Hi baby boy are you feeling better?" I said and he let out a squeak which made me smile
"Good." I said then got up. I climbed down and walked over to Bill and Tran
"What going on?" I asked them
"River's flooded we can't see the banks."
"Did we miss our turnoff?" Bill asked him
"It's just up ahead." Tran said then something hit the boat again
"What the hell was that?" I asked as Bill looked down in the water to see if he could see anything. Just then the wheel locked up
"Rudder's jammed." Tran said
"What? Watch out." Bill said trying to turn the wheel but it wouldn't move
"Shit!" Bill said then jumped down the stairs
"I'm not saying I'm an expert but I've been on this boat enough times to know that this isn't a good thing right?" I asked looking at Tran who looked just as nervous as I was
"GET UP EVERYBODY UP!" We heard Bill shouting from below Tran kept trying to turn the wheel but it wouldn't move. Just then Bill climbed back up and took over again
"Son of a bitch, the current's too strong." Bill growled still trying to turn the wheel
"We've missed our turnoff." Tran said
"I know come on baby." Bill said to the boat
"Come on girl." Bill said then the red light came on signaling that the propeller stopped
"Shit." Bill said hitting the wheel just then Tran jumped down below
"EVERBODY HANG ON!" He shouted to them
"HANG ON TO WHAT!" Cole cried
I grabbed on to the closest pole and took a deep breath just as we went over the waterfall. The water hit me fast and hard. It took me a couple of seconds to reach the surface and I took in that amazing breath of fresh air
"Swim to the rocks this way." I heard Bill say I swam over to the rocks and Cole helped me out of the water, I looked back just in time to see the last of the 'Bloody Mary' sink. Once everyone was on the rocks Gail started up
"You almost got us killed!" She snapped at Bill
"You think I wanted this I just lost my damn boat!" He snapped right back at her
"You're gonna lose your damn payday if you don't get us out of this." Mitchell said to him making me roll my eyes we almost died going over a waterfall and all he can still think about is money
"You said you'd get us there safely, if you knew it was that dangerous you should've turned around!" Gail snapped again
"THAT ENOUGH!" Jack shouted at her
"There's nothing we can do about it now. It's a waste of energy." He said
"What have we got?" Jack asked Sam
"Some specimen jars, a map, a little water, no food." Sam said
"Hard drive's ruined." Ben added as Tran pulled our knives from the water
"Well pretty much all the equipment's shot. Except one of the SAT phones still works." Cole said tossing it to Jack
"Thank God we can call the police." Gail said and I let out a laugh
"Police? The nearest river patrol is back in Padrang, the only way to get to us is over that." I said pointing to the waterfall
"Are you saying we're stuck here?" Sam asked me and I shrugged
"Maybe not." Bill spoke up, he got up and grabbed the map
"Okay were here the valley's completely flooded, but I got a friend who operates a boat on the Tokut river. I can give him a call and he can meet us here, at Naga rock."
"How far is that?" Sam asked him
"I don't know a two-day hike down the river. But if we bushwhack we can at least a day off the trek." Bill told them
"Oh my God you want to go through that?" Cole complained
"It's the shortest way." I snapped sick of these people and their whining and complaining
"Lia's right we could be safely in the Tokut by nightfall." Bill said
"So we could continue with the expedition?" Jack said and I looked at him like he was crazy
"Yeah I'll get you to the flower." Bill sighed
"I don't care about that flower just get us to safety." Gail snapped again
"It's the same thing!" I snapped at her and she glared back at me
"We can either be on my buddy's boat in 10 hours or we can sit here and wait for the river patrol for days." Bill told them
"Is your friend reliable?" Sam asked him
"Absolutely." He lied. I knew exactly what friend he was talking about, and he was no way reliable. And I'm sure Bill gonna have to pay him something for this. Bill took the phone and when off to the side to call him. I walked over to him just in time to hear
"Otherwise I'll tell your wife about that little side trip to Bangkok." Bill said then hung up
"So how much does he want this time?" I asked him
"Five grand." Bill said
"I guess that's not too bad, are you sure he's gonna be there?" I asked lowering my voice so no one could hear us
"I'm sure he will he needs the money." Bill said then we turned back to the others
"All right people, we're on saddle up." Bill said as Tran handed both of us a machete. Bill had taught me just about every survival trick he knows.
"Stay together, this jungle is all green all the time and you will get lost." Bill told them as we started to move out. We were about 4 hours in it was now about midday and the heat was almost unbearable. The worst part is once again the complaining started up.
"You see Sam a crisis separates the real men from the pretenders." I could hear Ben trying to flirt with Sam
"Yeah I see that." She said I turned and saw her once again staring at Bill. I knew before this trip was over, we were gonna need to exchange some words. I kept moving I was right behind Bill when Ben came up to me.
"Hey do you mind if I give it a try?" Ben asked motioning towards the knife
"Knock yourself out." I said handing it to him, I stopped for a breather when Cole came up to me
"I tricked him….into taking my bag." He said out of breath I let out a small laugh and he kept moving
"Are you alright?" Bill asked me I didn't even noticed he had stopped
"Yeah I'm fine baby." I said taking his hand, just then Sam walked up
"Hey I'm sorry about your boat." She said looking directly at Bill it was as if I wasn't even there Bill nodded
"Yeah well…..it was a piece of shit anyway." He said then let go of my hand and kept on walking. I glared at her then followed him, I fell in step beside him
"You know you can talk to me about it. I know the 'Bloody Mary' was your baby." I said and he nodded
"I will just not here, not around them." He said nodding towards Jack and his crew
"That's okay I'm here when you're ready." I told him and the first time since the boat sunk I got a real smile out of him. Granted it was a small one but a smile no less. We walked on for about another mile before we came to a swamp directly in our path.
"Oh shit." I said to myself
"Can we go around?" The dumb-blonde asked
"Yeah we could but we'd lose another day." Bill told her then turned and took the knife from Ben and gave it back to me
"Let's go." He said and we followed. When I stepped into the waist deep water. I thanked God that I had worn pants that day.
"Now I'm a big girl but you know I hate shit like this." I said to Bill who smirked at me
"You know you don't ever have to be scared when I'm around baby."
Bill led in front I was right behind him while Tran watched the rear. As we moved through the swamp no one said anything. Kong was beside us leaping from tree to tree, just then he started screeching like he was last night.
"Hey knock it off." Bill said looking at him he stopped for a few seconds then started up again. I was worried what was making him act like that. He normally listened to Bill especially when he used that voice.
"Shit! What was that?" Cole jumped
"What was what?" Jack asked me
"Something just moved past me." He said
"Please don't say that." Gail whined
"I'm serious something just moved past me. Shit! There it is again! Shit! There something in here!" He said trying to see what it was
"Cole there probably are a million things in here." I told him
"Just keep moving." Bill told him, we kept moving then I heard Gail's annoying voice whining about something. Then she started calling for Ben
"Ben? Ben?" She called then we turned around
"Where'd he go?" I asked as we kept calling for him
"HELP ME!" He screamed as he was being thrashed across the water by something, then was pulled under again. When he came back up he was covered in cuts and was bleeding all over the place. I moved to help him but Bill pulled me back just as a giant anaconda shot out from the water grabbing him by the face and was gone just as quickly as it came. Everyone started screaming
"RUN!" Bill shouted and pushed me towards the shore.