She heard him before she saw him. The movement through the palmetto bushes seemed deafening. It always amazed her how loud the swamp was, but this was not the time to worry about the swamp; she needed to hide.

  Chapter Five

  Syd crouched down in the mud and muck, trying to hold her breath while at the same time trying not to swat at the thousands of mosquitoes that had found her. Whatever, or whoever, was headed toward her was not stopping. They must not have heard her.

  She looked around for a weapon, but not even a stick was within reach. What happened to the handy rock that every movie always had when the heroine was being chased? Of all the times she needed reality to mimic art, it was now.

  She kept her head down, hoping her hair would hide any glint of her eyes. There she was thinking too hard about the fiction she loved. It wasn't like her eyes would glow, but…

  The crunch of steps got closer. She could feel the air shift as the person seemed to be in her space. She glanced up without moving her head, just her eyes, and saw him.

  Sam.

  He had stopped and was looking around. She didn't jump up right away, she wanted to observe him a bit. See what he was doing. Something about him just made her uneasy, it always had, though. So, she needed to know if it had to do with this situation or if it was carry over from the womanizing archaeologist who took advantage of young interns.

  She watched.

  He stopped, looked at his watch, sighed heavily, and then looked around him. He didn't seem hurt or look like he was being chased. He looked annoyed. She wondered where he had been when the men on the four-wheelers had pulled up.

  A shout broke through the sudden stillness of the swamp. It had taken the human voice for Syd to realize how quiet it had become.

  Sam's head spun around in the direction of the shout before he took off past her through the murkish water.

  Syd didn't want to move, but she knew the racket Sam had made might bring the pursuers in her direction. She eased back toward the tree, closing her eyes and sent up a small prayer that there were no snakes within,

  The crevasse was cool and dark; she was a bit worried that the sun would shine right in on her face, but as she got herself settled within, she noticed how cool it was inside. It was dark and damp, she crouched down trying to make herself small when two men came through the underbrush. They were swinging machetes to clear their paths; she could hear them breathing hard. The scent of their sweat broke through the earthy smell of the swamp, unlocking a new fear. What if they could smell her?

  They moved past her, swinging their weapons and swatting mosquitoes as they went. Syd did not move. The sound of the men faded as they moved farther away, finally allowing her to let out a breath. She decided her best course of action was to stay where she was, so she spent the heat of the day in the cool tree, waiting and thinking.

  The men never came back past her, so the waiting part of her day felt wasteful. This thought made her snort, wasteful that she lived to see another sunset, what had her life come to? The thinking part of the day had gotten her frustrated. She wanted to know who these people were, how they found them, what they were looking for, and where was Maggie. The sun was starting to go down before Syd decided it was time to move from the safety of her tree. She stretched as she emerged, the crevasse had been smaller than she thought it would be, and her back was tight. She took a tentative step, hoping she hadn't lost feeling in her feet as the pins and needles were starting to be painful.

  The palmetto bushes moved, but Syd had no place to run. She knew there were no weapons about, she stared with wide eyes as a figure emerged from the falling darkness.

  The man stumbled and fell with a splash in front of her. She was ready to turn and run when she recognized him.

  "Sam?"

  "Yeah." He croaked.

  She reached tentatively towards him, and he grabbed onto her hand like a man drowning.

  "I was so worried about you. They chased me. I hid up in a tree. Remember I said always look up?" She could see the smile on his face as he said this. " Well, they didn't." He laughed at his luck.

  Syd pulled him up, noticing how dirty and scraped up he was. He leaned heavily on her. She assessed him in the moment and again doubted her distrust of him. She decided to let him know her plan for the evening; if it was outrageously stupid, he would tell her.

  "I was headed back to camp. I want to see if we have any water purifiers or if they took them all. And MREs. We should have some of those. We didn't get a chance to grab anything before we left. Are you up for that?" Syd questioned as he sagged against her, almost dragging her down under his weight.

  Sam stood, taking his weight off her, "That sounds amazing. We need to be careful, though. We don't want to be caught."

  "Are they still there? I saw a few of them chasing you. How many were there?"

  Sam leaned back as if to stretch his back and stared at the sky before answering her.

  "I only saw four today. It was like they were still looking for something or someone." He continued to stare up, lost in thought.

  "Can you think of anything that would be of interest to them on this project?" Sam questioned.

  Syd thought about it, but she really just worked with whatever the others brought to her. Her job was the shells and the culture surrounding them. She did log some stuff, but not a whole lot. There were so many different varieties of shells with so many different etchings or man-made shapes that she didn't know much about the dig itself.

  "Not on my end. I just dealt with the shells. My head was over the table most days, and the days I did get out on the dig itself, it was mostly due to a grouping of shells, or one that needed to be seen in situ. I am not really in touch with what's going on." Syd felt sheepish admitting this. She knew the crew hadn't thought much of her and thought she had been pretty useless. She didn't do a lot of heavy lifting out here.

  Sam was the one with his finger on the pulse of the crew, the one in charge of the dig itself. If anything had been out of sorts, he should have known. The fact that he was asking her either meant there was nothing, or he really wasn't as in touch with the entire crew, only the pretty young girls.

  "I don't think it's a good idea for you to go into camp, Syd. I'll go and bring the water purifiers and food back to you. If they catch you, who knows what they might do to you. And you really aren't all that good at this kind of stuff."

  Syd stared at his neck as he spoke, his eyes never leaving the sky.

  "I think you might want someone to watch your back." She couldn't think of any advantage to her staying here. He would have to search the whole camp alone, and if he got caught, she would never know. She would be stuck in the Everglades with no idea how to get out.

  "I can't have you go in there. I do not want to be responsible for one more person's death." He looked her straight in the eye when he said this, tears threatening to fall. Syd didn't know what to say. How in the world did he think he was responsible for this?

  She walked over and placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to convey comfort as best she could.

  "Tell you what. I'll go halfway with you, that way if Something happens, I can hear you yell. We can come up with a code or Something. A straight yell means run. If you yell 'No,' I will come looking for you."

  Sam looked at her for a long moment, she could see the skeptical look in his eyes.

  "I know you think I'm not much help, but I am something. Even if I can't get you away, at least I can tell your parents what happened."

  "Thanks, that's a cheery thought."

  Syd sighed, "I study shells and death rituals. I am not a cheery person."

  The birds that were settling in the trees took off in a woosh at the sound of Sam's laughter.

  Chapter Six

  They agreed on the compromise. Syd went part of the way back to camp; Sam left her where the latrines were. That had been far enough away the night before so that they were not seen or heard. Of course, they also had not heard what was going on.

  After Sam was out of sight, Syd decided that she needed to be a touch closer, so she followed the path another hundred yards or so then used a stick to wack the palmetto bush on the side of the path. She was hoping that any snakes or large bugs would skedaddle after that. She then planted herself deep within the bush.

  "Don't think about what might be crawling around in here." Syd kept repeating to herself. She swore something was in her hair, but didn't want to reach up and actually find anything other than a mosquito. She glanced around as the darkness began to sink in. The area she had stopped was high and dry for the swamp. There was no water lapping at her heels here. She was grateful for this; she hoped that meant no alligators would sneak up behind her.

  She heard raised voices from the camp. She thought Sam might be in trouble but then she heard the four wheelers take off in the other direction. The sound of the engines faded as they got farther away.

  "Maybe they found what they were looking for? Or maybe they don't want to be out here at night." Syd wondered about the fact that they had left and come back a few times.

  She stepped out of the bush and silently started back up the path. In the dark, she didn't trust herself to get off it, but she also knew she would be hard to see. As she approached the area, she veered to the left toward the back of her chickee. She knew this was a shortcut since it was how she would avoid the others when it had been light out and she was deep in thought.

  She saw a flashlight moving around in her space. Someone, she hoped Sam, was searching through her things. She crept up to her chickee and glanced in where the sides didn't quite meet up. There was Sam looking under her bed, the drawers on her desk were dumped on the floor, and looked as if they had been searched through again. Whatever specimens had not been taken the first time had been strewn across the room. Nothing was safe, nothing was in order. She gasped when he found her computer. It must have been loud enough that Sam paused his search and looked up. He was looking out the front door area, though. Unless you had spent significant time in this chickee, you would never know there was a gap. She had tried to close it so many times, she didn't want any place where snakes or bugs could get in while she was sleeping, but it had never quite closed correctly.

  Sam strode out of her living space and called out, "Anybody here?" He waited a few moments; the only sounds were the millions of frogs that began to sing at dusk every night. The bullfrogs joined in to add some bass to the music. And the drone of the mosquitoes that was ever present.

  "Sydney? Is that you?" She froze. She didn't want him to know she had seen him searching her space.

  He looked around a moment more, then headed into the chickee that held the supplies. Syd slipped away down her private path back to the main path and headed toward the latrine area.

  Sam strode up to her with a rucksack over his shoulder. "I got water purifiers and as many MREs as would fit in here." He smiled in triumph.

  Syd didn't say anything, just smiled back.

  "I grabbed some fire starters, too. I figured it would be easier to get the food going if the water was hot. This way, we can make camp somewhere and keep the critters away.

  "Aren't you worried that whoever did this will see the smoke?"

  Sam shook his head, "Naw, and if they did, they would probably think one of the fires they started had come out of the swamp. No big."

  They unwrapped the water-purifying straws. Syd was so thirsty she thought she couldn't stop shaking. She wanted to stick the straw right down in the water. She knew better, but Sam stopped her anyway. "Remember, you can't see a gator in the water. It's best if we put some in jugs. I grabbed two. We can fill one with water to purify, then put it in the other jug. Of course, the straws will purify it as we drink it."

  He reached down and dipped the jug in the water. What came up was green, with things floating in it. Syd thought it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

  "Ladies first." Sam handed it to Syd; she plunged the straw in and took her first sip of clean water in she wasn't sure how long. It tasted like the best five-star meal she had ever had, Sam had to pull her back to keep her from making herself sick.

  "Whoa there, just start with that. We will drink and get rehydrated throughout the night. I also grabbed some of those packets that say they rehydrate faster than water. Let me refill, and then we can use the big filter to get it ready for food."

  They filled the jug one more time, then filtered it into the other jug. Sam filled the jug that had the dirty water again. "If we get thirsty, we can use the filter straws and take it out of here. That way we have clean water to cook with and add the hydration packets to."

  Syd was happy he had come back. He seemed to be doing everything he could to keep her alive, and she appreciated that. The fact that he had been searching her living quarters was never far from her mind, but she knew two people could survive better than one.

  They headed back to the first mound they had slept on, and Sam gathered his fire-starting material. "We don't have a lot of dry wood, so this won't last too long. I can go back tomorrow and look for things to burn."

  "I was hoping we could try to get out of here tomorrow, maybe follow the path out. It will be a couple days walk I figured especially if we have to keep hiding."

  Sam made a non-committal sound in his throat but continued blowing on the fire. Syd watched him as he worked. She knew how to start a fire from her dad. He had taken her camping almost every weekend when she was a child. He had made sure that she knew how to do all of the basic survival skills, even if she thought she had forgotten most of it and really didn't enjoy it.

  She was confused by how Sam had decided to get the fire going; it seemed to use up more starter than needed and burned hot and quick. She shrugged, sure he knew what he was doing, and got the small camping pot he had packed out and full of water to boil. She looked at the MREs, confused why he wanted to heat water in the pot. These were those self-heating ones; she knew about them because they were the only ones her dad ever packed. The memory came rushing back, "Even if you know you will have a way to heat water, things happen. Bring these and you will never need to start a fire if you can't." Syd smiled at the memory. Her dad was always trying to make sure she knew how to survive, in the wild and in life. She had to get back to him.

  The MREs tasted better than the water itself. They ate Alfredo chicken with orange-flavored water, which always came with the MREs, and watched the fire burn itself out. Had they not been in the middle of the swamp with people possibly trying to hunt them and kill them, Syd thought this would have been a beautiful night.

  It wasn't long before her eyelids grew heavy, and she had trouble keeping herself upright.

  "Hey, Syd, why don't you lie down and get some rest. We can see about getting out of here tomorrow." Sam handed her a blanket he had brought back with him, and she curled up on her side and dozed.

  She wasn't quite asleep, more in that state of exhaustion between sleep and awake, when she thought she heard someone talking. She didn't open her eyes but concentrated on the words.

  It was Sam.

  "Yeah, she seems to not know anything. I think we should be good. We are going to try to get out of here tomorrow, at least that's what I told her. No. No, we will not do that. Yes, she will be missed too much; they will definitely come looking for her. Yes, I know. Look, I gotta go."

  She felt him approach her and stand over her for a moment before going back to the other side of the fire and settling down.

  Syd could not stop her brain from trying to fathom what she just heard. Was Sam part of this? How safe was she? Could she get herself out of here safely? She knew she needed rest, her body couldn't handle another day like this, and she needed food. She would see what Sam had packed in the morning and what she could grab in case she had to run.

  Syd fell into an uneasy sleep. Her dreams were peppered with images of her father on long-ago camping trips and the fire that burned at the camp. She dreamt of snakes crawling around her and of her father's face if she should never come home.

  At last, she rested.

  Chapter Seven

  The feeling of creepy crawlies all over her woke her with a start. Syd jumped up frantically, wiping her hands down her body. Thank God there were no snakes or bugs on her. It had just been her brain working overtime.

  The sun had barely started to color the sky, the campfire Sam had built had died so there were not even any embers left, and he was snoring rather loudly flat on his back. This was her chance.

  The bag that Sam had brought back from camp was pushed to the side, about three feet from his head. Syd crept around the fire pit and reached for it.

  "If you're hungry, you need to get the fire going first." His voice was hoarse from just waking up. She caught her breath and let it out slowly, trying to add a chuckle.

  "Are the fire starters in the bag? I thought that was where you had put them to keep them dry."

  Sam stretched and growled out a yawn before rolling into a sitting position. He rubbed his face, yawning again.

  "In the front pocket. There should be a small thing of matches there too. While you get that started, I'll dig out the oatmeal and orange drink that forever comes in these things." He smiled at her; she smiled back trying to calm her racing heart.

  She reached in and grabbed the Firestarter, not sure how to get into the rest of the bag with him awake and staring at her.

  "Do you know how to start a fire?"

  She thought quickly, "Not really. I'm better at getting the food out." She tried to smile self-consciously at him and fumbled with the fire starter.

  He chuckled and took the starter from her, "Okay, I'll start it. You grab the food and get the water ready for the drink. I think it has vitamin C in it, which isn't such a bad thing. There should be brown sugar or strawberry oatmeal in there. Grab whichever you prefer."

  He turned his back on her; this was her chance to check the bag. She opened the top of the rucksack and peered in. It was about halfway full of MREs. She started to dig through them, but realized this wasn't going to work.

 

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