Jayde slowly opened her eyes. Every bone in her body felt broken. With careful motions, she moved each of her limbs at a snail’s pace to see if anything was broken. She knew how to do that; she’d been taught when she learned how to rock climb. By her assessment nothing was, she was just badly bruised. She sat up and looked around in the dark; it smelled of rain, humidity and death.
“Tyson,” she croaked out in a whisper. “Tyson, can you hear me?” Nothing but the chirping of the night creatures answered her. She waited as her eyes became a bit more adjusted; it looked like she had fallen down into a ravine. Her head was killing her and her gaze was fuzzy, so she could be totally off on that observation.
A small distance away from her she saw a dark shape. Immediate panic set in before she recalled that she’d worn a pack when she jumped. That foreign object was the right size and shape. She got it and then backed herself back up to a tree… snakes and spiders lived in trees.
Spiders! Oh, dear God! She was beginning to hyperventilate. Jayde opened the pack and found a small flashlight, which she didn’t want to use for fear of actually seeing a spider, blankets, knives, and what felt like two guns at the bottom.
Jayde took one of the blankets, wrapped herself up tightly in a cocoon, and leaned against the tree. The bag was in front of her and a knife was in her hand. Rocking herself as she did when she grew scared, Jayde settled down for the night, her blanketed body terrified under the canopy of the jungle and her mouth muttering a litany that was on a never-ending loop: “He’ll come for me, he’ll find me….”
****
Tyson struggled to surface, not believing he would die in the water. Then he realized it was just the cool nylon material of the parachute that buried him. Ripping it off, he sat up. Jayde! Where was she?
“Jayde?” he whispered. “Jayde!” he yelled to the jungle, only getting squawks from the birds and screeches from the monkeys as a response. Tyson swore; this was all his fault. After making sure he didn’t suffer any broken bones he stood, automatically checking his weapon and gathering the chute.
Touching his head, he felt warm stickiness and knew he was bleeding…or Jayde had bled onto him. He had to find her. For a moment, he began to panic until he realized he would find her faster if he were calm. “She’s smart, Cade; she’ll stay where she is until you find her,” he told himself.
Wincing, he slowly began walking, glancing his watch and seeing he’d been unconscious for a few hours. Tyson stopped, hearing something. Water, rushing water. It was below him, sounding like there was a ravine or gulley to his right. It was too dangerous for him to go off right now. He was still a bit disorient-ed and it would start to get light in less than an hour.
“Hang on, baby. I’m coming,” he said as he cleaned up his few cuts and scrapes with the small med kit he had in one of his pants pockets.
The second he could see past his fingertips, he was ready to go. He remembered the branch breaking, and she’d been in his arms then. So if he landed here than that meant…his gaze took him to the edge of the ravine. That meant Jayde had probably gone over.
With a prayer to a god he didn’t worship anymore, Tyson scanned the ground for signs of travel. A broken branch caught his attention and he began going down cautiously. He found one of the belts he’d used around her waist to tie them together.
“Jayde!” he shouted. “Honey, answer me if you can hear me!” Nothing. He muttered as he climbed down further, “Come on, little rose, give me a hint of where you are.” He didn’t wish to yell anymore in case he would be overheard by one of the men searching for them.
His sharp ears caught the faint sound of a noise that didn’t belong in the jungle. He followed it. Moving silently, he couldn’t understand what it was. Tyson came to an area that had three large trees blocking a sharp drop-off to the water; against one of them, he saw a huddled figure totally covered by a blanket.
It was Jayde. He knew it. He almost fainted from the relief he felt, not realizing he’d been that tense. The pack was in front of her, and she was rocking back and forth, mumbling to herself. This time he made out what she was saying. “He’ll come for me, he’ll find me….”
“You’re damn right I’ll come for you. Jayde, honey, it’s me,” Tyson said as he jumped down the rest of the way.