The day reached its peak and was incredibly hot. I felt like I was breathing soup with the humidity as well. I hated my jeans for being hot and chaffing when they got damp from my sweat, but they kept most of the bugs from biting my legs.
"You doing ok, May?" Slivko asked.
I looked up from the uneven ground I'd been carefully watching and saw him looking back at me. Conrad must've heard because he also glanced back.
"It's just really hot," I panted. I had to come to a sudden halt when I realized he had stopped walking and faced me now. Stopping was a bad idea because my head felt funny now.
He looked at me with furrowed brows.
"Hey guys, let's take a quick break?" He called over his shoulder.
Houston and San were pleased with this idea and rested on the nearest thing they could sit on, catching their breath and mopping the sweat from their faces.
Slivko set down his gun and took all the bags off his shoulders, setting them by a nearby tree.
"Come here," he waved me over to him.
"Give me this," He said grabbing a back pack strap.
He helped me take it off and set it with his stuff. It was so nice to get rid of the weight and let my sweaty back breath a bit.
"Is everything alright?" Conrad asked, stepping over to us.
"She's over heating," Slivko told him. "If she has a concussion she needs to stay hydrated."
Conrad nodded as he looked at me.
"That's right. You don't look so good, Darling."
Slivko's jaw clenched.
"All this humidity, I just can't do a thing with my hair," I joked.
"Weren't you supposed to take care of her?" Slivko questioned him as he slung his gun over his shoulder and took my hand in his.
He led me over to a small waterfall that was nearby. We were having to take a small detour into the woods because we couldn't walk on the bank of the river due to it turning into a straight vertical cliff. Small streams along or path told us we were still going the right way. Once we were standing by the waterfall he took my other hand from by my side and turned them palms up before putting them under the water.
"The veins are close to the surface on the inside of your arms," He explained, tracing his finger from my inner wrist to my elbow, making me shiver from the ticklishness of it. "Cool off the blood here and it makes its way everywhere else."
"That's really smart," I said, running my whole forearms under the water.
He dug into a pocket on his pant leg and pulled out a silver flask. It must have been empty, because he opened it and put it directly under the water, filling it. The others came and cooled off too, taking a drink as well.
"Take a little sip, not too much or you'll get sick," He warned, handing it to me.
"Wow, you're really smart," I told him before obediently taking a few small sips.
"I'm in the military, sweetheart," He smirked at me.
I nearly choked on the water because he made me laugh.
"Hey, you're looking like yourself again. Feeling better?" He chuckled, taking the flask from me.
"Yeah," I responded, then gasped when he poured some of the cold water on the back of my neck. "Geez, a little warning."
He took a drink and then poured the rest on the back of his neck. I caught some water and threw it at him, splashing him in the face.
"Yeah, definitely feeling better!" He laughed, wiping it off his face and flicking it at me.
He stood next to me and ran his arms under the cold water too. It really made me feel a whole lot better, I wasn't so lightheaded now and breathing was easier. I remembered that feeling I had on my flight to Washington, like I was the only real person in the world. It wasn't too obvious for me to do it, so I brushed my arm against his a little as I got up by my elbows wet. He felt real to me. I glanced up at him and he looked down at me. I didn't have anything to say, but I also didn't look away. He smiled and splashed me, causing me to flinch. We splashed and played till the Landsat guy started complaining about how much time it will take to get to the north side of the island. Slivko filled his flask and pocketed it again.
"Let me know if you get thirsty," He told me before walking back to his stuff. He helped me put my back pack on again and I helped him get all his stuff too. We set off again but I was feeling good enough to make conversation now.
"So, Slivko," I began. "We've shared a near death experience together and I just realized I don't even know your first name."
"It's Reg," He called over his shoulder.
"Reg? What's that short for?"
"Nothing," He replied. "It's just Reg."
"I'm sorry, but you do not look like a Reg."
"What do I look like?" He asked, amused.
"Well I guess you look like a Slivko."
"And you know a lot of Slivko's to say this with a certainty?" He bantered on with me.
"No, Just you. But now if I ever met another one I could say that they do not look like a Slivko. Unless they did kinda look like you.."
"Are you delirious or something right now?" Houston piped up good naturedly.
"I'm just trying to keep up morale here," I defended. "We really should get to know each other. When we get home, we probably won't be able to talk to anyone about all this. And even if we could, who would be able to relate to us? We're gonna have to stay friends when we get out of here."
Everyone was quiet for a moment.
"That's a pretty good point," Mason commented as she looked around at everyone. "We're all gonna be in therapy together."
"So here's an important question. Cookies: Soft or crunchy?"
We went around with different questions and actually started to have a little bit of fun. I got to know them all a bit better. San and Mason were on team crunchy cookies; Houston, Slivko and I were team soft, and Conrad was team "I'm British and they're biscuits." The Landsat guy failed to see how any of this was important, but sometimes laughed with us. In the midst of all this, we saw something coming up ahead.
"What's that?" Houston asked.
Emerging from the trees we were greeted by a broken archway. A building had been here at some point, a very old one built with roughly made stone bricks. There was no ceiling and not much for walls left, but it was also painted with a vibrant yellow color in a strangely artistic way.
"People have been here already," I stated the obvious as we looked around.
"Not recently, I'd guess," Slivko said, nudging a bit of rubble with the toe of his boot, his grip ready on his gun.
Mason picked up her camera and aimed it around, looking for a good shot. She suddenly let out a startled yell and dropped it, the strap around her neck saving its life. It was hard to see at first but the walls were moving.
I was expecting it this time and it felt like I was watching in slow motion. The arm came out, found it's mark with the usual accuracy and I was guided behind his back again. I was actully at the very center of everyone as we were surrounded by people, natives, brandishing spears at us. Conrad was telling everyone not to shoot and again Slivko seemed really antsy as the people approached us without fear. I held on to the strap of his record player again and put a hand on his back to let him know I was there and hopefully get him to calm down and not shoot anyone.
"Hey! Hey! Whoah, it's ok!" A voice called out.
A man in a World War 2 bomber jacket with a wild beard suddenly appeared, smiling crazily at us. He calmed down the natives who eventually lowered their weapons. Everyone was looking at him so confused, but I was excited about finding more people.
"They told me you were coming," He smiled. "28 years of trying to get back to the world, and the world comes to me?" He was so excited to see us and maybe a little crazy, but he seemed very endearing to me.
"You are more beautiful than a hot dog and cold beer on opening day," He said directly to Conrad which made me chuckle.
"Well, he's not wrong," I said under my breath.
"But you're real," The man said before squinting at us. "Aren't you?"
No one seemed to be making a move so I stepped from between Slivko and Conrad, the former grabbing my arm to keep me going too far.
"Yes, very real. And very glad to meet you," I said to him.
He grinned at me and bounced on his toes.
"I put on the old flight suit for you guys," He straightened his jacket and gave us a salute.
"Lieutenant Hank Marlow of the 45th.Now come one inside! You don't wanna be out here after dark," He said with a nervous laugh as he led us out the way he had come.
The natives, though very somber, didn't seem to have any problem with us now. They walked by without being overly cautious at all. Slivko, however, was the poster child for caution as he sandwiched me between himself and Conrad and kept me there with a hand on the small of my back.
"Oh good, there's an inside," I said happily.