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“My brother is full of tricks,” Oz teases.
I don’t bother to mention that he would have had to climb up the same way, and he had the mattress to contend with. I’ll admit I wasn’t sure he could do it.
Salem walks ahead of us, so I pause and catch Oz’s eye. He sighs, his demeanor shifting in an instant as he lowers his voice. “We’ve lost all communications. You find our cell phones?”
“Only yours, but it was destroyed during the crash.”
“So, we are completely on our own,” he murmurs.
“Looks that way. I’m not ready to start panicking yet, though. I’m not sure how deep in we are, but I do know there are people who live out here—Mayans who manage just fine living off the land. There are also lots of Mayan ruins, which bring in tourists and archaeologists. There are people here who can help if we can just figure out which direction to head in.”
He looks at me like I’m insane, and maybe I am. I’m making it sound simple when it’s anything but. We’re not talking about a small, wooded area. We’re talking about a goddamn jungle.
“So, we’ll just take a stroll, and when we bump into someone, we’ll just, what, ask for directions? Assuming the wildlife ignores us and we can find food and water, it will be just like camping,” he mocks.
“Would you rather I just lie down and fucking die?”
He sighs and looks away. “Sorry. It’s hard to remain upbeat when everything in this place could kill us. And if we make it out alive, we’ll still have people trying to kill us. I’m all about silver linings, Zig. But all I see on the horizon right now are black fucking clouds.”
CHAPTERTEN
Salem
Ihear them talking quietly behind me, so I leave them be, not wanting to interrupt. Looking around, I stop when I make it to the center of the plane and see that Oz succeeded where I failed. He managed to remove the small table and both chairs, and in their place is the mattress.
It doesn’t quite fit in the space, with the edges curling up on both sides, but it’s so much better than what we had. In the middle are the bags of food from the fridge and a pack of wipes.
I look back and see Oz looking at me with a small smile. “I figured we might as well eat it while it’s fresh. It won’t keep now that the electricity is out.”
I tug off my running shoes and move to sit on the mattress. They watch me until I beckon them over, kicking off their boots before sitting and taking a bag each.
“Like Oz said, this won’t keep. We have the rations and some drinks on board to keep us going. I don’t want anyone dehydrating, but we need to be very conscious of what we’re using until we can figure out a replacement, so tomorrow we’ll need to scout the area for food and water.”
I pull the sandwich from the bag and unwrap it, taking a large bite. My stomach is churning so badly that I can barely taste it.
“Don’t look so worried. There are water sources here—rivers, lakes, even waterfalls. But even if there weren’t, we can rig up a system to catch the rain.”
“How much rain do they get here?”
“Depends on the time of year. But if I remember correctly, the rainy season starts soon.”
I nod like everything is fine, but it’s not. Not even close. Still, none of this is their fault, so I swallow it down before I take my frustration out on them. We eat the rest of our food in silence. In my head, I’m so convinced that this could be my last meal that I struggle to eat at all. My thoughts torment me with all the possible outcomes. And none of them are good.
“Here, I’ll take that.” Zig leans over and takes the trash from both me and Oz and turns to get rid of it.
I don’t know why, but the act makes me grin. Before I know it, I’m laughing my head off. “We wouldn’t want to mess the place up,” I manage to choke out at Oz’s confused expression. I feel my face fall, and then I dissolve into tears, my mood swinging from one extreme to the other like a pendulum that’s out of control.
“Oh, pretty girl.” Oz tugs me into his lap and wraps his arms around me.
I hold on to him tightly, like he is the only thing keeping me from falling apart right now. He smooths his hand up and down my spine, the repetitive motion helping to calm me down. But even as my breath evens out, my tears continue to soak through his shirt.
Heat hits my back, making me jump before I realize it’s Zig, pressing in close so I’m completely surrounded by them. There is something about it that has me sniffling and taking a deep, shuddering breath. They are keeping me safe, not just from the great unknown but from my own fears. And just like that, they managed to bring a little sense of safety to a world that, for as long as I can remember, has been trying to eat me alive.
“Every time I think I’m done crying, something else sets me off,” I whisper, embarrassed. But I don’t make any effort to pull away. I quite like where I am, so I soak it up a little longer.
“Please. These arms were made for crying on,” Oz mummers, making me grin against his chest.
“You okay now, little one?” Zig asks from behind me, his breath blowing softly against my ear and making me shiver.
