Alicia agreed and we picked the tallest building in town. It was three storeys, but a service ladder up the side meant it was easy to scale, even though the climb was long. Once we were up on the roof, we saw the reason for that ladder: skylights, looking down on a derelict old interior.
It was a strange amalgamation of luxury and poverty that made this weird place even more senseless.
From high up, we managed to see the upper extremity of a tall structure in the distance. “That’s a radio tower!” Alicia smiled as if this was a sign from above. “We can tap into the system.”
“Do you know how to do that?” I asked, skeptical.
“I know how to use a computer. I bet we can figure it out.”
Nodding, I steeled myself for what came next as we picked a path into the jungle…
Taking a sip from my canteen, we started heading in a direction that seemed inhospitable. In a way, we wanted to take the worst route possible; aiming to avoid accidentally running into our captors’ camp.
Without a machete, we were struggling, but we did our best to move fast. It was like running a marathon at full speed against the wind. Like walking into a muddy river…
We did find water. Maybe the sight should have been a relief, but it evoked the thought of wild animals lurking in the shadows.
“Let’s move on,” Alicia instructed, side-eyeing the water as she clenched her canteen.
She was carrying the rifle on a sling. I was keeping the handgun. If there was going to be a shootout, though, it would be at close range and luck would determine its outcome.
It must have been another two hours of walking until I could feel both of us lose hope. We didn’t know whether to go up or down. So far, it felt like we’d been moving in circles. Everything looked the same and the terrain guided where we could go to the extent we couldn’t aim for anything in particular.
What the fuck were we doing? Running through a jungle as if we’d magically stumble on salvation? Outgunned and without local knowledge… How the hell were we going to escape?
I stopped, reaching for my knees as my chest heaved. For the first time I let myself cry over the loss of my sisters and my friend.
Thick tears that ran like molten lava over my face burned me to my core. The pain built in my chest until I could actually feel my heart give. But, a hand on my shoulder — loving and understanding and kind — brought me back from the brink.
Alicia and I shared an inhalation and started moving again. Our legs could hardly take it, but we found some kind of path. It was overgrown, though it was clear people had made use of it recently. We might have been stepping back into the lion’s den, so we stopped to strategise.
“We can either go high or low,” Alicia pointed to the slope.
“Let’s go downhill,” I suggested out of some instinct I didn’t understand. Alicia shared it and we started making our way down. The relief provided by the easier walk was brief as the topography became steep again.
Eventually, I just couldn’t take it anymore — physically or emotionally. I crashed onto my back as Alicia heaved for breath nearby. It was hellishly humid and I felt close passing out.
I was slowly drifting, drifting, drifting… Alicia gently kicked me in the side and reached out to pull me up. “Look here,” she said, pointing just past some deep jungle. “Some kind of house…”
I took a deep breath and straightened myself. Sure enough, out there in the middle of nowhere, there was a tiny home.
62 • Heart
From outside, the two buildings looked to consist of maybe two or three small rooms. One was slightly larger, and it looked like a standard size affordable housing unit. The other was a little smaller and more rectangular. It looked governmental or possibly commercial — some kind of office.
Their existence in this part of the world made no sense. There was no reason for them to be there.
Alicia had her gun ready as we approached a rotten wooden door, but there didn’t seem to be anyone around. Pushing it open, she peeked through and confirmed it.
“All clear… Now, what the fuck is this place?”
I shrugged, stepping into the strange ‘home’ we’d found.
The first room was a kitchen with a small attached living room. You could eat at the island and sit on a single couch, but there was nothing else for diversion.
Snooping around, I found a calendar for 2006 on the fridge… A working fridge. Opening the taps, a stream of water poured out at good pressure.
“They must have some way to generate electricity, plus a borehole.”
Alicia nodded. “I saw a solar panel. We’re in a bit of a clearing. Looks like a road uphill, but it runs back into the jungle.”
“How the hell did I miss all that?” I asked.
“You’re tired, boss.”
Checking the kitchen drawers, I found something.
“Look at this. It’s some kind of logbook, but this definitely isn’t any language I know. These just seem to be symbols,” I speculated, scanning the ledger. “Some of this is definitely mathematical; Delta, Epsilon… No dates, though, just little markings.”
“Nothing to tell us where the hell we are or how we get out of here.”
“If they were keeping records of something here, maybe they had to relay the information. There could be some kind of radio linked to that tower we saw. We just need to find it.”
Alicia put her gun in her waistband before opening the fridge. There were half a dozen pink sodas. Drinks that couldn’t expire.
Probably.
Dehydrated, I’d never tasted anything better than the sour candy-drink. Checking another cabinet, Alicia found gummy bears and we started sharing the pack.
Even in the midst of danger, I couldn’t help but snicker. “This is fucking weird.”
“Peak American capitalism in the middle of the fucking jungle,” Alicia smirked. “They must’ve had some kind of industry here, or some billionaire wanted to make his own little utopia.”
Suddenly, guilt washed over me. I had let myself smile for one second, and it felt like I’d betrayed my family beyond repair.
How the hell could I ever allow myself joy after my new life ended theirs?
Seeing me lose hope made Alicia worry and she did her best to console me. “We’ll find our way out of this… There’s still a chance they all survived and will be coming back for us. At the very least, a KnR team has already been scrambled by our people in London.”
“KnR?”
“Kidnap and Ransom.”
Shaking my head, I wanted to solve the big mystery once and for all.
“He said the Americans paid them. I can’t help but think our visitor, Mr Smith, is behind it. Fuck… I should’ve backed off when he told me to.”
“This isn’t your–”
Before Alicia could finish her sentence, we heard someone reach for the door handle. Quickly, we trained our guns on the noise.
A frightened woman with olive skin and lush black hair jumped as she was us, raising her hands in surrender. As Alicia lowered the gun and I did the same, the woman’s fright evaporated. She smiled warmly at us, opening her arms wide in a welcoming gesture as another woman entered the house.
This second woman was clearly her daughter, as they shared a family resemblance.
“Hello,” I offered, but the two didn’t reply. They simply went about their business, beginning to prepare a meal. Now and then, they would give us an interested look, but they didn’t pay us much attention considering the circumstances.