13 Chapter 13

“Nice place,” I commented, looking around.

I was still doing this, when I saw, out of the corner of my eye, an object flash down, barely missing me. I was able to stop from crying out, but I jumped several inches, before I saw that the object had been the end of the Marine’s stick. Looking down, I saw it buried in the green floor of the jungle. It had also impaled a sizeable snake, just behind its head.

“Oh, my God!” I whispered.

“You need to be careful,” he said quietly. “Maybe we should go together.”

I was too startled to think at that moment. Instead, I sat down on one of the fallen trunks that had produced this slight clearing.

“No,” I said at last. “I’ll go along the beach, stay out of the jungle. What about that? And you can work on—weapons.” I pointed to the stick. “Not that you weren’t effective with just that.”