Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 80431 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80431 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
“You are a statistic, Chief. You’re another human to get duped by a monkey.” Oakley chuckled.
Sawyer went to the edge of the stream and drank some of the water, which tasted even more refreshing in the early morning. He also dabbed some over his burns that, thankfully, weren’t as tender as they’d been the day before.
“And you’re welcome for this continental breakfast,” Oakley said as he got the fire restarted.
Sawyer was thankful for all Oakley was doing. He was just feeling stupid from that damn monkey.
“Thanks,” he murmured.
Oakley let out a loud yawn, then began cutting up the pieces of fruit.
“You were up all night, weren’t you?”
Oakley shrugged. “I got in a couple of bouts of shuteye. I’ll be fine.”
“Maybe we should stay right here, where there’s food and water and you can nap while I watch out for shit.”
“Negative,” Oakley shot back. “We gotta be close to finding a village by now. The longer we stay in the Amazon, the less chance we have of surviving.”
Chief Aiken Oakley
Oakley tried to keep his mind off his exhaustion by pointing out animals and bugs and describing their characteristics to Sawyer.
Sawyer seemed most fascinated by the poisonous frogs and the wild-colored birds. Oakley hoped his lessons on wildlife were enough to distract Sawyer from his obvious pain.
It was still early, but the sunlight had begun to fade and the skies were ashen gray. The temperature had dropped at least ten degrees, but it wasn’t close to dusk.
Oakley wished he had more of the numbing plants, but there hadn’t been any by the stream or while they’d been walking.
They’d been humping almost three hours, and he was about to call a break when Sawyer hollered loud enough to wake the nocturnal animals.
Oakley ducked and yanked his firearm out of his thigh holster. Sawyer hadn’t yelled out since Oakley told him not to, so he had to be warning him of something dangerous in their path.
He didn’t see anything, and when he glanced at Sawyer, he was frozen in his place, skin as pale as a cloud.
“Please.”
Sawyer’s voice was so weak and shaky that Oakley barely heard it over the chirping bird.
“G-get it, Oak—”
Sawyer had the biggest tarantula Oakley had ever seen crawling across his chest.
The farther up it traveled, the harder Sawyer trembled.
“It’s okay, Sawyer. I’ve got you.” Oakley rushed over and pinched the spider between its second and third pair of furry legs.
The arachnid flailed in his hold before Oakley set him on a large Monstera leaf.
He instinctually pulled Sawyer into his arms and touched his lips to his ear.
“You’re okay. It’s gone.”
“You think I’m a fuckin’ pussy, don’t you?”
“Stop it. That was a tarantula, Sawyer, and a massive one too.”
Sawyer was still shaking.
“Ninety-two percent of people in the world have a fear of spiders, chief. Tarantulas have a ferocious bite. Of course you’re gonna want it off you.”
Oakley had exaggerated that stat, but he didn’t want Sawyer to feel ashamed or embarrassed.
He smoothed his palm over Sawyer’s hair and cupped the back of his neck.
“Are you okay?”
Sawyer nodded, not looking him in his eyes.
“Hey,” he whispered, kissing the oversensitive side of Sawyer’s face, “you’re safe with me.”
Oakley prayed he was making a promise he could keep.
“Let’s get going. We only have a few hours before it starts to rain. Let’s find some shelter.”
Over the next couple of miles, Sawyer’s head was on a swivel. He examined every oversized bush they passed. Which was why they’d only gone a couple of miles in one hour.
The air was becoming heavy and wrapping around him like a soggy blanket. The sky darkened, with ominous clouds rolling in like a storm surge on the rampage, threatening a torrential downpour at any moment.
He began searching for a tree high enough to avoid any overzealous night animals and with a thick canopy to shield them from the rain.
Oakley was lucky he was on the hunt because if he hadn’t been, he’d have missed the large bunches of coconuts nestled high among the branches of a long, slender tree speckled with patches of vibrant green moss.
“Oh, hell yeah.” Oakley hurried toward the tree, eager to quench his thirst with the sweet water inside the fruit. “These aren’t native here, so we must be getting close to a village or something. When I knock’em down, you pick ’em up.”
“How the hell are you going to get up—”
Sawyer hadn’t finished the sentence before Oakley leaped feetfirst onto the sticky bark, then wrapped his hands around the tree like a koala.
Moving feet over hands like he’d done countless times, thing on the ground got way smaller with every upward pull. The trick was to never stop or look down.
He could hear Sawyer praying to whatever jungle god he thought was out there, “Please don’t let him fall.”
When he was almost to the top, he bypassed the hairy dark-brown older nuts and went for the young bunches with the light-green outer shells.