The Next Day
Kirt Heinrich
I laid there amid smelly puddles of excreta and vomit when I woke up. When I stared up at the hive above my head, I noticed that it had not fallen on my face. I heaved a sigh of relief when I realized that; for, I was allergic to bee stings. But while I was glad at that realization, I also realized that I couldn't move my body very much. I didn't eat anything for more than three days because of diarrhea and a strong fever that I had. As a result of that, my body was weak and my head was aching. It was a miserable experience there. Insects used to climb over my body, but I didn't have the strength to shoo them away. The only thing I could do is sneeze to get them away from my nose.
I never had a severe case of diarrhea like the one I had in that forest, in my life. Even though I suffered because of it, I was glad I had diarrhea: toxins were being eliminated from my body. If I didn't have a loose bowel movement, I could have died because of the toxins. Insects are definitely a dangerous food choice for a jungle survivor. It's easy to confuse edible insects with inedible insects.
Alice Boe
I stood for a while gazing at the river from the door, while Timothy was trying to catch some fish.
Timothy was able to catch a lot of fish. Since the day he caught one fish, he had been catching a lot. The fish he caught daily strengthened us. I was glad that eating raw food didn't make me get food poisoning. Nourished by the food I ate, my stomach stopped rumbling. I could clearly hear and see things.
The debris floating on the river reduced in amount and the water was moving at a slow pace. It was good news for us because a slower current meant easier access to fish. But, we could never trust anything in the rainforest. Anything could change in an instant, leaving us shocked by the change.
Wanting a break from watching the river, I decided to go back to my capsule and spend time reading. Books are always a portal to another world, a portal that helps you escape reality. They're a portal that gives you a new world to enter into. They help you enter a magical world that helps you forget the worries and troubles that you have in the real world. I needed to go into that magical world. So, I walked down the aisle to go to my capsule and grab a book. As I walked down the aisle, I greeted Tom and Rhett Finkleberry who were talking with AnnSophia. Shifaly was with Timothy, who was showing her how to fish. She was listening to what Timothy was telling her. Timothy always loved an audience. If you show that you're interested in something he knows about, you better get ready for a lecture on that topic.
Smiling as I thought about them, I unlatched the door of my capsule and opened it. My bag was on the bed. Looking at the bag, I thought, "Why not put on some makeup. I kind of look shabby." I grabbed my mirror from the bag and began combing my hair. Then, I put some lip balm on my lip. After confirming that I looked better than how I looked, with the help of the mirror, I closed the lip balm and put it inside my bag, followed by the mirror. I then pushed my bag towards the front of my bed. I then scanned the capsule for my book and saw that it was near my pillow.
Trying to reach the book, I stretched out my hand when suddenly something lunged out of the pillow, trying to reach my hand. Screaming I moved back rapidly, falling out of the capsule onto the aisle. Everybody came running to my aid. Shifaly and Timothy who were busy talking to each other stopped and looked at me. I was panting. As I looked at my capsule door in horror, I saw the head of the snake, with its tongue showing occasionally, come out. The snake made its way down onto the aisle, slithering past me. It was brown in color with black stripes. Slowly propelling myself with my hand, I moved up the aisle in the direction of the toilets, while I watched the snake go towards the door in horror.
Frightened, Shifaly jumped into the water. Timothy dropped the fishing rod and jumped too, wanting to save Shifaly who began drowning. The snake grabbed a fish with its mouth and slithered into the water. I ran towards the door looking for Shifaly and Timothy. I searched for them, looking through the windshield and every window.
They were nowhere to be seen.
"Oh no. Not again," I muttered. I could see nothing.
"Not Timothy!" I sank onto the floor, with my hand on my head. I lost Kirt, someone I cared about. How could I afford to lose Timothy?
As I thought those things, I saw some bubbles appear in the water. To me, it was a good sign. Someone of the two survived. Gasping for air, Shifaly surfaced.
Then, beside her Timothy surfaced, holding her. I took Shifaly's hand and helped her onto the bus, while Timothy grabbed onto the railings and helped himself onboard. I was relieved. They hadn't died. I gave Shifaly and Timothy a tight hug. I was also glad that the snake went away. We lost that fishing rod: the river carried it away. But, it wasn't much of a problem because we had more onboard. We were glad that we didn't lose Shifaly and Timothy that day. Moreover, I was grateful that I missed death by an inch. I didn't see the snake coiled up near my pillow when I reached for my book. If I had the wrong timing, the snake would have impressed its two fangs on my wrist, injecting venom. With no antivenom onboard and no help in sight, if I got a snake bite, I would have died a painful death.
Felipe Altamirano Alvarez Espadachín
Stroking the back of my dog Amor, I looked at the river bank. I was on a canoe. The tribal chief sent for boatmen to take the Police Officers to the village. The village was inaccessible by road. I was one of the officers going there. It was my first encounter with that tribe. Their lack of knowledge of the Spanish language revealed how disconnected they were from the outside world. They wore primitive clothing and their canoes weren't motorized at all.
The rays of the sun, filtered by the canopy, formed polka dots on the forest floor. A jaguar stared at us go by, while it was lapping water from the river. When I looked into the river, I could see tiny fishes swimming close to the surface. There were one or two insects on the water. Occasionally, I saw a large fish come near the surface, only to eat some small fish, before going in. We were on the canoes for more than two hours. The river we traveled on wasn't La Muchachita or Princesa Irene. It was a small river that originated from some springs in the jungle and emptied itself in a lake nearby.
Looking at the terrain from the boat, I could tell that traveling on a boat was the fastest way to get to where the tribe's village was. The terrain was hilly and filled with thick forest. It would take a person many days to walk through the forests and to cross those tall hills. We saw a gathering of caimans (reptiles that look like crocodiles) resting on the banks at one point in our journey. They were oblivious to the passing of our canoe through the waters. My dog barked, when it saw the caimans, but eventually calmed down when I patted it. I didn't want Amor going anywhere near a caiman.
When we came near a rocky riverbank, the boatman in the lead canoe shouted something in Aymara, instructing the others to follow him. After he shouted those instructions, the boatmen rowed the boats, which were traveling in the middle of the river until then, towards the bank. When we neared the bank, the boatmen helped us onto it. Once on the bank, my team and I loaded our pistols. Luismar walked with me.
"So here are where we last saw the girls," the tribal chief said as he pointed to a slope of the hill where the village was after we reached the village. After receiving some gestures of hospitality from the villagers, we quickly got to work. I kept my notepad handy, taking notes as the tribal chief gave me details about the girls.
"So that's where you last saw them. Where were you all when it happened?" I asked while I stood near the spot that the chief showed me.
"We had a meeting of all the elders and youths in the village when the earthquake came. The children were outside. When the earthquake was over, we came out and saw that the girls were gone," said the chief.
"What did you see them doing before they disappeared?" I asked.
"They were playing their games," answered the chief.
I sighed. With my assistants, I walked to the spot where the villagers last saw the children. Looking from there, I saw that there was a thick rainforest at the bottom of the slope. It looked like an ordinary slope.
"Do you think the children would have gone there?" I asked, pointing to the rainforest below.
"No, sir. They're forbidden to go there. In our culture, that part of the forest must be avoided at all costs. Even if they fell there, they would have made their way up." he answered.
After that, I continued to question the chief, with Pablo scribbling notes of the questions I asked and the answers he gave on my notepad.
We couldn't get any solid evidence for most of that afternoon. We just took a few pictures and spoke with a few people. But, I was glad that we saw the place where the girls were last seen. That would help me reconstruct the scene of the crime. After a while, the chief showed us some people to question.
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Next Chapter: ¡Amor!