by Melissa Good
Dar looked puzzled for a moment, then she rolled her eyes. ”Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I just let him get to me for a minute.” She dismissed the incident. ”We’d better get started.”
Kerry tightened her fingers on Dar’s hand. ”Maybe we should have our lunches first, give everyone a chance to calm down...hmm?”
Dar considered that. ”Maybe,” she acknowledged. ”Half an hour won’t make much of a difference, I guess.” She allowed Kerry to lead her back to the group. ”Okay.” She got their attention effortlessly. ”We obviously need to get out of here.”
”Yes,” Duks agreed. ”Quickly. This is becoming quite slimy and I suspect water will be making us float shortly.” He tapped his foot in a growing puddle of clear, cold water.
”Jesu.” José dabbed at a raw looking scratch on his head. ”We could have been killed.”
”But we weren’t,” Dar told him. ”There’s a spot over there.” She pointed. ”I think we could all make it up there, and if not, those of us who can, will go get help.”
”From who? That idiotic woman?” Eleanor snapped, obviously upset and frightened. ”Don’t be stupid, Dar. We can’t climb up there and I’m not sitting down here in this freezing muck.”
”Come now, El,” Mariana forestalled Dar’s rising ire. ”Either you climb, or you stay here. You can’t say you’re not going to climb, and you don’t want to stay here. Pick one.” She sighed. ”I’m going to be filling out workman’s comps on you people all of next week, aren’t I?”
”We can call for real help when we get up there,” Dar explained.
”But everyone should try to make it. We don’t know how long it’s going to take, and you don’t want to be stuck out here when it gets dark.”
No one looked like they liked the idea, but reluctant nods went around the group.
”It will be lighter if we eat those lunches they gave us first,” Kerry reminded her boss. ”I could use the break.”
”Oh yeah.” Mark pawed at his pouch. ”That’s a good idea.”
Everyone stirred, pulling out their packages with varying levels of enthusiasm. ”What is this?”
Dar had seated herself on a rock, easing her leg out in front of her Hurricane Watch
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and turning her pack over in her finger. ”They’re called MRE's nowadays” She remarked. ”Military food.” She looked up as Kerry sat down next to her cross legged on a flat piece of limestone. ”They won’t kill you, but I won’t guarantee anything else.”
”Oh, lovely.” Kerry pulled at the package, tugging out small foil wrapped containers. ”How does it work?” She glanced up, then put her hand on Dar's knee. ”Hey.”
Dar had been leaning her head against the rock she was seated against, her eyes closed. Now she forced them open and regarded her friend. ”Yeah?” She felt suddenly exhausted and the throbbing in her head was getting worse.
”Here.” Kerry tucked something into her hand. ”I think you need that more than I do.”
Dar peered at the packet. ”Oh.” She smiled in reflex at the army issue generic Tylenol. ”Yeah.” With a sigh, she put her package on her lap and unwrapped its parts. ”Okay, this is a self-heating pouch.” She picked it up and pulled two lurid tabs on either end. ”Do that and whatever’s inside gets heated up by chemical action.” She glanced up, startled to see the whole group of them, less Steven, gathering around her. ”It’s not that hard, people. We are a technology company. Please remember that.”
”Well, well.” Duks pulled his tabs, then set the large packet aside.
”And what’s this? Do not tell me this is what you give us atheists on Christmas.” He picked up a smaller packet. ”Crackers, graham, 2.”
”Oh my god. Is this that stuff they feed the soldiers?” Eleanor’s eyes widened.
”Mm, yeah, I saw a special on that the other day.” Mark investigated his package. ”Silverware too. Pretty neat.”
Kerry opened her heated package and sniffed it. ”Oh.” She pulled her head back in surprise. ”I think this is lasagna.” She poked a spork in and dug a bit out, tasting it warily. ”Hey, that’s not bad.”
They ate their meals mostly in silence, on top of the soft, limestone rocks which were slowly becoming flooded by water. Dar found herself pushing her food around with her spork. She glanced to one side, then offered the remainder to Kerry. ”Here, you want to finish this?”
Kerry eyed her. ”You don’t like it?”
A shrug. ”It’s not bad. I’m just not that hungry,” Dar admitted. ”Go on. I saw you thinking about licking out that pouch.”
Kerry blushed, but took the offering and finished it off, then passed Dar her container of apple juice. ”Here. I don’t like it. Why don’t you take your aspirin?”
Dar took her advice and swallowed both Kerry’s tablets and her own, washing them down with the juice. Then she regarded the group.
”Well?”
”Right.” Duks slapped his knee. ”Let’s get going. I can’t wait to get back to our charming camp and the peanut butter sandwiches I’m sure 90
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will be there for us.” He stood up, balancing carefully on his rock.
José joined him. ”Son of a bitch. I’m going to have a thing to say when I get back, I’ll tell you that.” He glanced. ”Come on Eleanor, let’s get this over with, eh?”
They moved to the far wall, slipping and sliding over the slick rocks, and started a slow path up. Dar went to the front, discarding her stick as she slowly moved from rock to rock. ”Okay, everyone get up here first.”
”I’m not going that way,”Steven stated. ”I’ll meet you all up at the top.” He turned aside and started his own path up, grabbing on to thick vines which trailed down from half dislodged trees.
”He’s right, it’s easier there.” Eleanor abandoned them and followed Steven’s determined form. ”Come on, José, Charles, no sense in taking the hard way up.”
”Si,” the Sales VP agreed as he edged away from them and followed her. ”I’m coming.” Eleanor's thin assistant followed obediently, pushing his glasses up nervously.
Dar gazed after them as though about to speak, then shrugged and turned back to her task, leaning her head against the cool branches for a moment before she straightened and looked for the next step up. The throbbing was starting to subside, but she felt an odd kind of distance to her thoughts that made her wonder if she hadn’t done more than get her bell rung.
A hand suddenly warmed her back and she turned to see Kerry next to her, ostensibly looking for a good hold. ”Is that a good way up?”
The blonde woman asked, stepping up next to her and gazing, then turning to watch Steven’s progress up the wall. ”Or do they have the right idea, much as I hate to admit it?”
Dar smiled wearily. ”Well, that’s an easier climb, but I’m not sure it’s worth it,” she remarked.
”Why?” Kerry asked curiously.
”Those vines are covered with poison ivy,” Dar replied, glancing over as Duks and Mark, who were right behind her, started chuckling.
”Oh, no, don’t say that.” Mariana pushed the frazzled hair back out of her eyes. ”I’ll never hear the end of that, Dar. You’ll have done it on purpose to them.”
Dar merely shook her head and continued her way up, finding easy holds for the rest of her group. ”Easy there,” she warned. ”Grab that root. Yeah, there.” They moved slowly up the slope, using the handholds to keep their balance. Fortunately, the walls weren’t directly vertical and they made fair time, stopping halfway to catch their breaths and take a rest.
Steven, José, Charles and Eleanor had already reached the top and disappeared, and Dar found herself glad of their absence, realizing the constant strain of their irritating presence had really been wearing her down. Duks and Mariana seemed to be glad too, as they leaned against Hurricane Watch
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each other and wiped muddy sweat off their brows. Mark engaged Mary Lou into a conversation about the Marlins
, which left Dar and Kerry standing next to each other against the slope.
”How’s the knee?” Kerry asked.
Dar shrugged and flexed the leg in question. ”It’s all right.” She leaned back against the dirt, feeling the coolness through the fabric of her shirt. The joint had stiffened up, but was more a nagging ache than a sharp pain, for which she was grateful.
The climb wasn’t helping, though she’d been able to use her arms and shoulders to pull herself up most of the way. ”Come on,” she exhaled. ”I vote we commandeer the damn bus and get the hell out of here the minute we get back.”
They all looked at Mariana, who stuck her tongue out at Dar. ”Only if you stop at the first blessed Dairy Queen we find, DR. I have to get the taste of that mint jelly out of my mouth.”
Dar brightened a little. ”Dairy Queen, hey, yeah. They do have those up here, don’t they.” Ice cream would just hit the spot, she mused, as she resumed her hunt for roots to grab onto. Her stomach still felt queasy, but she knew she’d never, ever been too nauseous to eat ice cream.
”You had to mention that,” Kerry sighed, as she climbed up next to her lover. ”Now we’ll be hearing about chocolate bonnets until we get there.”
”What’s that?” Duks inquired, offering Mary Lou a hand up next to him.”It’s a hardened chocolate shell,” Dar answered, with a half grin.
”They dip the cones in it, and let it harden.” She pulled herself up one more level. ”It’s messy as hell, but it tastes great.”
”I take it you’ve been subjected to that, Kerry?” Mary Lou asked, as she edged up the rocks.
”Oh yeah,” Kerry answered, then realized how that sounded. ”Um, one of the last Dairy Queens in Miami is just down the road from our Kendall office. We have to pass by there to and from meetings.”
”Uh, huh, I see.” Mary Lou nodded.
They continued to climb until Dar, in the lead, was almost at the top. She slid over one final bit and grabbed a tree hanging off the edge, pulling herself up and over onto the rough path they’d come in on.
No one else was there. ”Bastards,” Dar muttered, as she turned to put a hand under Kerry’s elbow to haul her up. ”Went on without us.”
”Those pigs.” Kerry’s brow creased. ”I can’t believe they did that.
We would have waited.”
The rest of the group came up and sat down on the path. ”Well,”
Mariana exhaled. ”That’s more exercise than I’ve gotten since I was in the Girl Scouts.”
”You have that correct,” Duks agreed, sprawling with his legs outstretched and leaning back on his hands. ”But we have made it, and 92
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as such, I proclaim this part of our little seminar a success.”
Dar got to her feet. ”I’ll vote for that,” she agreed. ”But then, we never had a cooperation issue between us anyway.”
Mariana sighed, and got up as well. ”All right, all right, so it was a bad idea.” She brushed herself off. ”Although, if this hadn’t happened, it might have been more valuable.”
”Yeah,” Kerry agreed softly as they trudged off down the path, as the late afternoon sun slanted through the trees. ”Well, maybe we can work out something on a smaller scale back there, like in a hotel, or something.”
”A comfortable hotel,” Mary Lou agreed.
”A comfortable hotel with beds, air conditioning, and televisions,”
Mark added.
”Don’t forget modem jacks.” Dar gave them a half grin. ”And room service.”
”Room service, oh yes,” Duks agreed.
They all laughed a little as they came to a bend in the path, walking around it almost abreast, stopping as they reached the overlook to the rope bridge.
They stopped, staring at the strands in puzzlement.
Clothing hung off the railing, and loud, angry, frustrated voices were heard below.
”Uh oh.” Mariana peeked over, then hid her eyes. ”I don’t think I have a personnel report to cover this, Dar.”
”What?” The executive peered over. ”Oh boy.”
Kerry balanced on her shoulder. ”Oh my god, they’re naked.”
”Throw the goddamn clothes down, you idiots!” Steven screamed, his head just poking out of the water.
Dar leaned against the railing. ”Say please,” she called out, tauntingly.
”Dar.” Kerry gave her a slap. ”C’mon now.” She picked up the shirts and pants and balled them up, then hesitated. ”If I throw them, they’ll fall in the water,” she yelled down.
”What in the heck are you people doing, anyway?” Mark leaned next to Dar. ”Lousy time to go swimming, you know?”
José stood up, the water draining off his belly. ”Some bastards came with guns and made us!”
Dar sighed. ”It was funny, right up till now.” She backed up and glanced around, then her eyes fell on the snake. ”Hold on.” She made her way along the bridge until she got to it, then she carefully untangled its length from the ropes and slung it around her neck. ”Here.” She edged back to where Kerry was waiting. ”Tie it on to its tail.” She turned to Mark. ”Keep an eye out for anyone coming. Musta been some hunters or someone who decided to play a joke on them.”
Mark backed up and looked around. ”What am I supposed to be looking for? Morons with rifles? My job description doesn’t cover this, Hurricane Watch
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Dar,” he muttered.
Kerry finished tying the clothes to the snake’s tail, then watched as Dar lowered it down to where José was standing, having to crouch all the way down and extend her arm to get it low enough. Kerry kept one hand on the platform and the other hovering, in case her boss lost her balance, though if Dar did and she grabbed her, for sure they were both going creekward.
”Okay, you got it?” Dar yelled wincing as the strain pulled against her leg. She watched José reach up, then closed her eyes in reflex. ”Oh god. I didn’t need to see that,” she muttered, hearing Eleanor scream.
”Shut up, I’m getting the goddamn clothes,” José snapped, finally working
them
free.
”Here.”
He
released
the
snake’s
tail.
”Done...aiiieee!” he yelped as the snake, freed from Dar’s hand, dropped in rubbery coils around him. ”Jesu, Dar. I’m gonna kick your ass when I get up there.”
Dar straightened slowly, conscious of Kerry's hand on her elbow.
”You couldn’t kick my ass if I were a desk chair and you had brass boots,” she yelled back down.
”Would you two just shut up!” Eleanor screamed. ”Oh my god, I'm itching all over.”
”So am I,” Steven chattered, tugging his long sleeve shirt on. ”Oh shit. Augh!”
”On second thought, clothes were probably a bad idea,” Dar commented with mild interest to Kerry. ”That fabric rubbed up all over the poison ivy.”
”Ouch.” Kerry winced, looking at her hands. ”Thanks for telling me.”Dar smiled. ”I’m sure you’ll be fine.” She chuckled, then exhaled, as the four complaining, blotchy, muddy, wet, angry people closed in on them. ”All right, enough!” She raised her voice. ”Let’s just get the hell out of here and scream at each other later, all right?”
”That’s the smartest thing you’ve said since we’ve been here,”
Eleanor snapped. ”Get out of my way.” She shoved Dar aside and stomped across the rope bridge, seemingly oblivious of it’s height and unsteadiness, scratching frantically at her arm as she did so.
”Okay.” Dar leaned back against the ropes. ”Guess we’re going back to camp.” They all filed past her one at a time and she watched them cross, waiting for Kerry to get part of the way over before she brought up the rear, placing her feet carefully on the rope.
”Goddamn it all to hell. I’m going to sue until I’ve gotten every single cent out of this goddamned company.” José was stomping along.
”Irresponsible, danger to its customers—putas!”
Dar sighed and tried to filter his voice out, concentrating on the pain in her leg instead. That worked, but it got her preoccupied, so much so that she didn’t realize everyone stopped and she thumped into Kerry’s back with a jolt, knocking the breath out of both of them.
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”Wh...oh...sorry.” She steadied herself on Kerry’s shoulder and exhaled.
”What’s up?”
Silently, Mark pointed into the camp. Dar stepped up next to him and peered through the leaves to where she could see the main hall.
Their bus was parked off to one side and in front of the structure were two pickup trucks, with various camping style items in the back and prominent shotgun racks. Two men were sprawled in the back of one truck chugging beer and two others were on the porch, one of them pinning a hapless Skippy against the wall as he tried to kiss her. The guide was squirming frantically, trying to escape.
”It’s those bastards that made us strip,” Steven snarled. ”Let me at their ugly butts.” He scratched his arms frantically. ”Auggghghh.”
Dar felt a cold wave wash over her, leaching the color from the vibrant foliage and draining the exhaustion that had been plaguing her since the accident. She felt her attention focus on the men, and a faint, grim smile played about her lips. ”All right, that’s it. I’ve had enough,”
she said as she pushed her way past José and Steven, and stalked into the open clearing.
”Where in the hell do you think you’re going?” Steven hissed, grabbing at her arm.
She shook him off like his touch was nothing. ”I’m going to go work out some repressed frustration,” she growled, then started moving again. “Just be glad it’s on them and not you.”
”Dar!” Kerry's voice was low, but anxious. ”Wait—”
For a long moment she was alone, then she heard steps behind her and a hand grabbed the back of her shirt. She pulled free. ”Stay here.”
She told Kerry as she headed towards the two men on the porch. ”Hey!”
She was up on the platform before they could react, then one belched. ”Hey, you’re pretty!” He lurched towards her, reaching out a hand. ”C’mere, pretty lady.”
