Tom watched Jimmy sleeping peacefully, wishing he could understand what had happened to him that day. Sure, he was glad his brother had finally moved on and was once again interested in girls, though Alice wouldn't have been Tom's first choice. Yeah, whatever toots his horn.
Ugh, why couldn't he find something that tooted his horn? Someone, anyone. Even someone impossible. But seeing Sam and Christine together had proven that he still felt as if he belonged to someone else, to the most miserable creature on this earth.
Get out of my head, get out of my head, get out of my head! He wasn't even going to think her name ever again, let alone speak it. God, let the other backup they expected be some hot girl he could fall head over heels for so he'd break the chains. He thought he'd gotten over her until he'd almost died. In those few seconds he'd been sure the walls would kill them all, he'd thought about her, about her smile, her laugh and how happy they'd been until she showed her true colors and destroyed everything.
I gotta get out of here. Tom scrambled out of his sleeping bag. He had to do something, anything, to stop thinking. This included getting eaten by a jaguar. Grabbing his slingshot, he stepped out of the tent. Carlos seemed to be sleeping next to the camp fire. Where could he go? Maybe he should just circle the camp since it was dark as hell and he hadn't taken any light source with him. He walked toward the fringe of the clearing.
"Don't be rash, miho. Learn to listen and you will find your happiness," Carlos said as Tom passed by him.
"Thanks, dude," Tom answered, not stopping. The guy obviously had good intentions, but generic advice was not what he needed right then.
He stopped once the light barely made it through the vegetation. He'd gotten used to the jungle and he'd be sorry to leave. And a part of him wanted to demand that they all took a DNA test to make sure he and Sam weren't twins. Deep inside, he was somehow sure they were. Sam was like a missing part of him - the rational, reasonable part.
The part that wouldn't stupidly wander away from camp and see an intruder sneaking around. He squinted at the shadow moving silently, but it didn't seem to have noticed him. The sound of movement came from his right as well. There were more of them. Maybe they were trying to surround the camp.
Tom glanced over his shoulder, but camp was invisible behind the walls of vegetation. He presumed it was safe for now, so he started off after the shadow, walking as quickly and as quietly as possible.
The silhouette wasn't in a hurry and Tom kept a safe distance. What confused him was that he couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman. He walked like a man and had broad shoulders, but also seemed to be wearing a skirt.
It suddenly stopped and Tom stopped too, ducking behind a tree. It had obviously seen something, and after raising his sunglasses to the top of his head, Tom could see it too in the almost nonexistent light: another person, crouching in front of something. He squinted, trying to make out the shape better, but he didn't get to because the one he had been following rushed swiftly and caught the other in a headlock. The girl screamed shortly and struggled to escape the grip.
Tom crouched, picked up a rock, loaded his slingshot and fired, hitting what turned out to be a man straight in the head. He growled and let go of the girl who scrambled away at once. Tom loaded his slingshot again, but the man didn't turn towards him. Instead, he rushed after the girl, and pushed her to the ground. She fell on her front and the man pinned her to the ground.
Tom came out from behind the tree and unloaded the slingshot again, from a much shorter distance. This time he caught the man's attention. He shoved the girl aside and rushed to Tom. Before he could make a move, the crazy guy rammed himself into Tom, throwing him to the ground. The slingshot flew out of his hand.
He rolled over to face the man, but it turned out to be a mistake. The man stomped on his chest, pushing all the air out of his lungs. Tom struggled to inhale. The man pulled away and kicked him in the ribs. Tom yelped and turned over, feeling as if something had cracked inside him.
His ribs weren't broken, he could tell, he'd broken them before. But they were about to give in, like a worn out elastic, ready to snap. Another kick to his other side brought him face up, his arms around his torso, feeling as if his own muscles were trying to smother his insides.
The man leaned over him. Light flooded his face and he took one step back. The girl had joined the fight and pointed her flashlight in his face, blinding him. It only lasted for a second. He growled again, bearing his teeth, but didn't move away from Tom.
For the first time, Tom could get a good look at him and his heart sank into his stomach. There were deep gashes on his face - he couldn't tell if they were lines or scars - and it was ghostly white. What Tom had first taken to be a skirt was actually a loin cloth. The man's long black hair was caught up, his chest was bare and, dangling from his neck was a necklace of shrunken heads. Tom's eyes widened at the sight of it and the man grinned, pleased.
"Scared are you, little animal? You should be! Take a good look at my face because it's the last thing you'll see."
Tom tried to scramble away, but the man pinned him down with one bare foot and took out a knife, all the while grinning broadly. Tom grabbed on to his ankle and punched the side of his knee with his other hand causing him to lose his balance. Tom pulled out from under him and got into a crouching position.
What the hell was this guy? All he needed was bone through his nose and he was a stereotypical cannibal.
He rose to his feet, prepared to tackle, but something hit him on the back of the head and he fell back to the ground, holding on to his head which felt as if it was splitting open.
The man let out an unearthly, manic laughter, jumped over Tom and headed for the girl who obviously hadn't expected Tom to get up and had aimed whatever she had thrown at the man in front of him.
She groaned when the man shoved her to the ground. He climbed on top of her and raised his knife. Tom closed his hand around the closest thing he could find, which turned out to be a fallen tree branch. He pulled it back and hit the man as hard as he could with it. The wood made contact with the side of his head and sent him tumbling off the girl. The force of the hit brought Tom to his knees when his damaged ribs strained.
The girl rushed to help him stand, and he grabbed her arm and forced her forward, breaking into an embarrassingly slow run towards camp.
Every movement hurt, but he had to reach the safety of the vegetation and disappeared. The girl pulled him, forcing him to run faster, all the while looking back, but the lack of extra footsteps meant they weren't being followed, at least not yet.
They stopped behind a large tree trunk. For a few seconds neither of them moved, listening carefully, but they could hear nothing except for the natural sounds of the jungle. No sound of footsteps, running or otherwise.
Tom let out a deep breath, let go of the girl's hand and felt his ribs with both hands. It hurt, but the sharp pain he had come to associate with them being broken didn't come. With that concern out of the way, he put his hand on the back of his head. There was a lump there. Whatever that girl had thrown, it had been something heavy. Impressive.
She watched him, panting a little, and took a huge rucksack off her back. He stared back at her, but couldn't make out what she looked like except for the outline of her body. And he had to admit that it was a very nice outline. It looked like he was getting his wish faster than he thought.
The girl kneeled next to him and put her hands on his sides, gently, as if she wanted to check for herself that he was alright. He flinched, but didn't pull away. The warmth of her touch felt nice. She moved her hands to his face next, letting them slide to the back of his head, to check the damage she had done. In doing this, she came incredibly close to him and he couldn't help but grin. He liked where this was going. It sorta made up for the kicks and the hit in the head.
"I'm sorry I hit you. I didn't mean to. Thanks a lot for helping me out," she said all of a sudden and his heart skipped a beat.
That voice. It couldn't be! His good fortune took its mask off to reveal the most savage bad luck in existence. Why oh why did all this shit have to happen to him? He clenched his fists, trying to keep his body from trembling, from moving, from reacting to her.
"Um, you're welcome?" Awkward silence. "Okay, you're making me feel bad."
"You should!" he finally snapped and even he was surprised by the hatred in his voice.
She scrambled away from him so fast, she fell on her ass. Perfect. The further away she stayed, the better. He didn't get to finish the thought when bright light blinded him. He put his sunglasses back on, but it didn't help much.
"No!" She threw the flashlight to the ground so forcefully, it half-sunk in the carpet of dead leaves. It shone its light on both of them. "Why you? Out of all the people in the world! I was better off with the psychotic cannibal."
"I was better off with the psychotic cannibal, too. If it would've crossed my mind it could be you, I would've let him turn you into a purse."
Angie stood, fury burning in her green eyes, her hands on her hips, and as much as he tried not to, he couldn't help but analyze her form head to foot to see what had changed. Her black, wavy hair was a little shorter than he remembered and she now had bangs almost covering those beautiful eyes...he shook his head. He couldn't still think that anything about her was beautiful.
But he unfortunately wasn't blind, so he noticed that she was more stunning than ever. Tom had no idea if his memory was foggy or she'd done something to look like a soul-sucking succubus, sexy as hell. He looked up at her, afraid she might guess what he was thinking, but instead she seemed to be analyzing him too, and by the looks of it, didn't like where it was going. That made him grin.
"Stop grinning like an idiot!" she snapped, picking up her rucksack again, and once his eyes fell on it, Tom's smile disappeared.
"What exactly are you doing here?" he asked warily.
"It's none of your damn business what I'm doing here..." Angie stopped and her eyes widened. "No!"
"Please tell me you're not backup!"
"Goddamnit!" She thrust her rucksack to the ground and turned around, positively shaking with anger.
Tom got to his feet, trying to deny what he knew would follow. He didn't want to be forced to stand her presence, he didn't want to have to help her with anything and he wished he could stop staring at her butt. But all he could think of at that point was turning off the light and returning to her fussing over him. Why, God, why? He should find her repulsive.
"Why did it have to be you?" he groaned and she turned around.
"It sucks when your plans go down the toilet, doesn't it?" she asked, her eyes narrowed and he flinched. That was what he'd said to her when they'd broken up. So much for her forgetting everything and letting him fondle her for just a second before going back to hating her guts. "Did that hurt?"
Tom stared at her, his nails digging into the palms of his hands as he tried to calm down. There had to be a way out of this. Maybe there was.
"Goodbye." He turned away and headed for camp. She wasn't following. Perfect! After a few more steps he faltered and stopped. He felt like kicking himself.
"You do care about me, don't you?" she asked and his heart jumped at the sound of her soft tone.
But once he turned around, the anger returned, stronger than ever. She was smiling maliciously, her eyes narrowed.
"I knew it! As much as you play macho, you're still soft. You haven't gotten over me. You still have feelings for me."
"Of course I still have feelings for you. They're called hate and disgust," he said, marching over to her, taking the rucksack and starting off towards camp again, this time with Angie in hot pursuit.
"No, you're just trying to get away from me, because you're scared."
"No, it's probably because I hate you, I can't stand you!"
"Well, for your information, I hate you too and I wish you would have let the cannibal turn me into a purse."
"Don't remind me I was stupid enough to play the hero and save you!"
"Don't flatter yourself. You didn't save me. You assisted me in saving myself. And don't think that I can't tell that you're scared to be around me. That's only because you still love me," Angie yelled, the flashlight shaking violently in her hand.
"Is that so? What made you think that I was ever in love with you to begin with?" Tom asked furiously. "You couldn't make me fall for you if you were the last girl on Earth. You're the one quivering, thinking how hard it will be around me."
"Are you willing to place a bet on that?"
"Of course I am! I bet that you'll fall for me so hard, you'll break your bones."
"Yeah?If you're so confident, mister macho, I'll take that bet. Except you'll be the one breaking your bones," Angie said and threw the flashlight in his head.