Chapter 11

 

Beast and Belinda were making their way around a mammoth kapok tree when the world abruptly exploded. He grabbed Belinda and pulled her into the shelter of the tree as the ground shook. Around them, insects stilled. Above them, birds took to the air in droves, squawking their fear as they did so. Monkeys went crazy and ran through the branches above them, making a shower of leaves fall like snow.

“What was that?” Belinda whispered as she clung to him.

“Explosions.” Five, if he wasn’t mistaken. The same as the number of buildings in the clearing the kidnappers had made.

“What blew up?” Belinda whispered.

“I think it was the camp.” But it didn’t make sense. Not unless the search team had gone in, guns blazing, to find them. No, even then, it didn’t make sense. Benson Security had a rep for being the best. And being the best meant they didn’t blow up the people they were trying to rescue.

“Does this mean they’re all dead and they won’t chase us?” Belinda sounded so hopeful that he was almost loath to burst her bubble.

“No. The kidnappers could have blown the camp themselves, to cover their tracks after they discovered we were gone.”

“Will they still try to find us?”

“Can we take a chance on thinking they won’t?”

Her whole body seemed to deflate. “No, I guess we can’t.”

“We need to keep going. Get some more distance between us and the camp. Head that way.” He pointed. “I’ll bring up the rear.”

He swung the gun that was across his back to his front, ready to use. It bothered Beast that the natural noise of the jungle covered any sound their captors might make. If someone was close by, he honestly wasn’t sure he would notice until they were right on top of them. He wished this fight were happening back on his home turf. Buildings and alleys he knew; trees and rivers—not so much.

They ran, uncaring about leaving a trail or making noise. The most important thing was to get as far away as possible, as fast as possible. They crashed through bushes, shoving palms out of the way and feeling them slap against them as they passed. They stumbled over roots, grass and fallen trees, all the while batting at the insects hovering in a cloud around their heads.

Belinda started and detoured to the left. “Snake.” She pointed at the long reptile curled around a vine, watching them with yellow eyes.

Beast was glad she’d spotted it, as he wasn’t sure he would have. Tiny yellow frogs with large black eyes jumped along branches, singing to them.

“Don’t touch anything red. Red is bad. Everything red can kill you,” Belinda called over her shoulder. “And don’t touch any frogs. Most of them have excretions on their skin that can kill you or make you hallucinate. Neither of which would be good right now.”

She sounded out of breath. Beast noted that her dress was clinging to her back and sweat made her hair stick to her neck. As if thinking exactly the same thing, Belinda reached into her tiny bag, came out with a hair tie and pulled her hair in a ponytail. For some reason, the sight of her bare neck made Beast want to lean in and take a bite out of the woman. He shook his head to clear it. He had to stay focused on their problems, not on Belinda. And the biggest of their problems was water. They were losing too much fluid and would have to make finding water a priority.

They broke through a thicket of bushes and found a muddy bog on the other side. Belinda put a hand out to stop him walking straight into it. “We don’t know how deep it is.”

She headed off on a path that would take them around the muddy area. The sound of something large crashing through the bushes made them stop dead. Belinda reached back and placed a hand on his arm. He covered her hand and squeezed it before holding the rifle out in front of them. They stood unmoving, barely breathing, afraid of making any noise at all; anxious they’d been found, and ready to defend themselves.

The palms wavered and shook. There were moaning noises, followed by clacking sounds. Belinda shot Beast a querying look and he said, “Shh,” to make sure she maintained silence. And then the smell hit them. Belinda covered her mouth with her hand and gagged. She looked at Beast, clearly asking what it was. He shrugged. Damned if he knew. It smelled like skunk. Lots and lots of skunk.

Suddenly the grass parted and a small, pig-like animal ran out. It crossed in front of them, about six feet from where Belinda and Beast stood frozen. The noise increased as several more of the same animals crashed into the tiny clearing. They were built like pigs, with white snouts and spiky black hair covering their bodies. Beast watched stunned, as they kept on coming. There were hundreds of them, ranging from babies the size of domestic cats, right up to adults the size of wild boars. The herd rushed past them and headed straight for the mud pool. And the smell was overwhelming, to the point where Belinda’s eyes were watering and his were stinging.

Once the last of the animals were frolicking in the mud, Belinda tugged on his hand and signalled for him to move out. He nodded, and they slowly made their way around the mud. It took a few minutes to get far enough away from the animals for the smell to fade. Belinda dropped her hand and gasped for air.

“That was gross.” She pulled at her dress, lifting it up to sniff at it. “Does the smell cling? Do I smell like white-lipped peccaries?”

“White what?”

“Peccaries. They’re like pigs. Only way smellier.” She looked up at him. “Can you sniff me and tell me if the smell lingered?”

“No. I’m not going to sniff you. How the hell do you know what they are?”

She shrugged. “Must have picked it up somewhere. Weren’t they cute? That wild, bristly hair standing on end and those tiny, wee eyes. I could totally have cuddled one—if it wasn’t for the smell. I don’t even think they’re vicious. Though I’m not sure. Apparently, they snap their teeth together to make a kind of clacking sound when they’re cornered. They probably bite, too.”

Beast stared at her. His main thought had been whether the herd would overwhelm them and eat them alive. Hers had been whether it was safe to cuddle them or not. He looked at his watch.

“Get moving,” he said, because he didn’t know what else to say.

“Do you think we’re going in a circle and we’ll end up back at the camp?” Belinda said. “I’ve heard that most people naturally veer to the left when they choose a direction. We could be doing exactly that.”

“I have a compass built into my wristwatch.”

“Oh.” That took the wind out of her sails. “Did you take into account there’s so much iron in the Amazon basin that compasses have been known not to work in the rainforest? You might think you’ve chosen a direction to keep us going in a straight line, and really we might as well have been following the second hand on your watch.”

“How the hell do you know this stuff?” Beast urged her forward as he spoke. “You recognise pig species, you know about iron deposits. Are you making this stuff up?”

“Yes. That’s what I must be doing. There can’t possibly be any other explanation.”

“How about we drop the sarcasm and focus on getting out of here alive.”

“You can if you want. I like my sarcasm. I’m quite attached to it.”

“Get moving,” he ordered her again.

He held the stolen rifle in front of him and hoped like hell their captors were far, far away. If they weren’t, he was prepared to strike first and ask questions later. But he’d have to make every shot count. Their ammunition was sorely limited. For the first time in his life, he wished he were as deadly with a gun as he was with his fists. Not that his aim was bad, but he hadn’t practised as much as his friends. There was no need for it. It was a decision he had come to regret.

“Can you fire a gun?” he asked Belinda, suddenly aware that if something happened to him, she would have to survive on her own.

“Sure. I’ve had to do it for several movies.”

He felt his ire rise every time she mentioned her profession. It was totally unreasonable. But he still couldn’t seem to stop the reaction. Actors were liars by trade. And Beast hated liars. “Can you fire a real gun?”

“They were real guns.” Now she sounded irritated.

“Can you hit anything you fire at?”

“Well, I don’t know that part. I only ever fired blanks.”

Beast looked heavenwards and asked for patience.

“I’m good with a bow and arrow, though. I had to learn archery for a movie once.”

“We don’t have a bow and arrow. We have a gun.”

“I wonder if we could make a bow and arrow,” Belinda said. “I mean, how hard can it be?”

Beast deeply regretted bringing up the subject of weapons. It was clear that when it came to defending them, he was on his own.

“I’m good with throwing stars, too,” Belinda told him as she pushed a palm out of her way.

“Are you good with anything we have on us?”

There was a long pause while her little airhead mulled that over. “No.” She let out a heavy sigh. “We should have kept the shoes. I’m sure I could have taken someone out with a four-inch pair of Jimmy Choos.”

Beast bit back a groan.

 

 

Belinda was sure she smelled like a herd of white-lipped peccaries. That kind of stink had a tendency to cling to everything it touched. They’d been going steadily uphill for hours, and Belinda felt her thigh muscles ache. She looked up but saw only green above her. The trees reached high into the sky and then exploded with lush, dense foliage. She wondered if there were rain clouds beyond those leaves. She could use the shower. It felt like they had been trekking through mud for hours. It came up to her knees and had gotten into her shoes; her toes squelched with each step she took. There were mud streaks on her hands, in her hair, on her face. The only bonus to being covered in mud was that it acted as a barrier between her and the mosquitoes who thought she was a tasty treat.

And she was thirsty. So darn thirsty. How was it possible to be surrounded by so much mud, but not one drop of clear, cool water? There was no sound of a flowing stream or rush of a river. No tell-tale pitter-patter of raindrops falling. This was the rainforest, and she was going to die of thirst.

“I need to drink.” She hated that her words came out as a whine, but she was dying of thirst and exhaustion.

“We’ll find water soon.” He didn’t sound convinced.

Neither was Belinda. They’d been walking for hours and the only water they’d seen was filled with dirt. She scanned the area again, hoping there was a source of water she’d missed. All she saw was a bunch of ants making a trail down the tree and across the ground. Each one carried a perfectly cut piece of leaf. Because the ants were so tiny and the leaf pieces so big, it looked like the leaves were walking away from the tree all on their own. She stopped to watch, fascinated by the sight.

“The leaves are walking.” She couldn’t help but smile as she watched the thousands of pieces of leaf move up and down the tree.

“But you aren’t.” Beast prodded her shoulder to make her keep walking.

“You know, when I played a kidnap victim, it was a whole lot more fun than this.”

“Do I have to explain the difference between reality and make-believe to you again?”

“I’m still not sure this is real,” she said. “You could be in on it. The stuff that happened back at the camp could have been an elaborate act.” She looked up at him. “I’ve heard they make those fake kidnappings as real as possible.”

“The kidnapping is real. I’m not in on it.”

“Ah, but you would say that if you were playing the part. Heck, even the guy who pressed my hand to his dick could have been lying. It could have been a bratwurst he shoved down the front of his jeans.”

A hand clamped on her arm and Beast turned her to look at him. “The guard made you touch his dick?”

“Or his bratwurst?” From the crazy jaw clenching and the eye-twitch thing he had going, she maybe shouldn’t have mentioned that part.

“If I see him again, I’m going to kill him.”

Belinda patted his arm and felt that familiar awareness burst into life. Only now, it was worse. Because now she knew how it felt to kiss Beast.

“Okay,” she said to appease him. “I give you permission to kill him next time you see him.” She turned away and kept walking. “If he’s real and the two of you aren’t playacting,” she muttered.

“I’m also going to punch your brother the next time I see him. It’s his fault I have to listen to this crap about being in the middle of a fake kidnapping.”

“I am totally fine with that.” As far as she was concerned, Daniel could use having someone knock some sense into him. “But seriously, this whole thing is messing with my head. Is it real or is it just an elaborate setup? It’s like that episode of Buffy, in series six. The one called ‘Normal Life,’ where they show Buffy as a psych patient and she’s just been dreaming about being the slayer for six years. At the end of the show you aren’t sure if the whole series is a lie, or if her being in the asylum is a lie. Really brave of Joss Whedon. He could have lost a lot of fans pulling a stunt like that.”

“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.” Beast sounded weary.

Belinda was outraged. “How can you not know about Buffy the Vampire Slayer? It’s seminal TV. It shaped a genre and changed the television landscape.”

“Never heard of it. Don’t care about it. Now move faster.”

“Heathen,” Belinda muttered as she lifted the bottom of her dress and used it to wipe her brow, uncaring that she was giving Beast a show. Her body was coated in perspiration, but her mouth was dry. How was that even possible? Surely if she was dehydrated, she’d stop sweating too?

“I really need some water. I don’t know how long I can go on without it. There has to be something around here somewhere.” She was back to studying the jungle, hoping some water presented itself to her.

“I don’t see anything,” Beast said. “Our best bet is to keep moving and hope we find something further on.”

Belinda had stopped listening. Her heart raced and she felt lightheaded—because she’d spotted their salvation. She grabbed Beast’s shirt and pointed. “There!”

She rushed straight towards her prize, tripping over tree roots and getting smacked in the face by a palm as she did so.

“Slow down,” Beast snapped. “I don’t want to lose sight of you. I don’t see any water. Are you having one of those delusions people get when they’re dehydrated?”

“It’s not a mirage.” No, she was seeing something way better. She screeched to a halt, put her hands on her hips and beamed at him. “Our prayers have been answered.”

“Hollywood,” Beast said, voice gentle, as though he was afraid to push her over the edge, “that isn’t water. It’s bamboo.”

“I know it’s bamboo. Give me your machete.” She held out a hand.

“Yeah, there’s no way I’m arming you when you’re hallucinating. Why don’t you sit down on that log and take a deep breath?”

“Honestly!” She let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine, you do it.”

“Do what?”

She stomped over to the bamboo and pointed at it. “Chop here. Cut a V into the bamboo and we’ll get water.”

“Belinda…” It was clear from the set of his jaw that he was going to argue with her.

“I’m not making this up. This isn’t some weird hallucination. I know this is bamboo. And bamboo is hollow. It stores water in each of its segments. Give me the machete and I’ll prove it.”

He frowned at her, thinking. She wondered if it hurt. With a grunt of annoyance, he pulled the knife from his belt and sliced diagonally into the bamboo. He changed angle and sliced upwards, taking a wedge out of the stalk.

“See, no water.” He stepped back and glared at her.

“Do it again,” she ordered as she unscrewed the tops of their bottles. “You need to keep going until you make a hole that goes through to the centre.”

“This is a huge waste of time.”

“I hear lots of whining but no chopping.”

With an irritated grunt, he hit the bamboo stalk again. A hole appeared and water started to trickle down. Beast stood there, gaping at it. Belinda elbowed him out of the way. If he wanted to think he was seeing things, then that was fine—she wanted a drink. She put the empty bottle under the flow and let it fill. Once it was full, she handed it to him and put the other bottle under it. She didn’t even bother to throw an ‘I told you so’ at him. It wasn’t worth the effort.

“How?” Beast stared at the water in his bottle.

The crystal-clear water that Belinda had found for them, thank you very much.

“Each segment of bamboo contains a couple of litres of water. Well, bamboo this big does. Drink up and we’ll refill.” She brought the bottle to her mouth and took a long swallow. The water was cooler than she’d expected it to be, and it tasted better than the finest champagne. She gulped until her bottle was empty. Better. So much better. She grinned at Beast, who was staring at her like she’d suddenly grown an extra head.

She didn’t have time for his disbelief. She had water to mine. “Do you have any condoms on you?” Belinda asked him.

He choked, sputtering water everywhere. He bent over as he coughed, holding a hand up to stop her when she moved towards him to helpfully thump him on the back.

“What the hell?” he snapped at her when he’d finished coughing.

She knew exactly what he’d been thinking, and it was so far from reality that it was laughable. “We can use them as water containers. I have a couple. I was wondering if you had more. You didn’t think I meant something else, did you?” She batted her eyelashes at him.

“You have an evil streak a mile wide, Hollywood,” he told her as he fished his wallet out of his back pocket. “I have two condoms.” He tossed them to her.

Surprise, surprise, they were extra-large. “Do you think any man, on the face of the planet, ever walks into a pharmacy and buys extra-small condoms?”

“I can’t talk for other men. I buy what fits.”

She snorted. “Sure you do.”

He ignored her, obviously confident that he had nothing to prove. Which in itself was intriguing. Belinda shook her head to clear it. That wasn’t a safe direction for her thoughts to follow.

Beast cleared his throat, as though he knew what she was thinking. “I’m not sure I like the thought of drinking water out of something that usually goes on my dick.”

“I like the thought of dying of dehydration less.” She pointed at the bamboo and arched an eyebrow at him.

With a shake of his head, he clutched the machete and set about getting the water out of some more bamboo segments. It didn’t take long to repeat the process and refill the bottles before filling the condoms Beast had given her.

She reached into her tiny bag and pulled out the two she carried.

Beast winced when he saw them. “Green?”

“Mint-flavoured, too.”

“But green?” Seriously, what guy wants to walk around with a green dick?

She shrugged. “A girl has to get her fun wherever she can. Now fill the minty green condoms with life-giving water.”

Watching Beast cringe while they filled the green condoms turned out to be even more fun than Belinda had thought she’d have with them. A few minutes later, they had two full water bottles and four water balloons. Belinda made a cross-body bag out of the sheet she’d nabbed and put the water balloons into it.

“I’ll carry them,” Beast said.

“I was going to suggest exactly that, caveman. With those excessively large muscles of yours, you won’t even notice the extra weight. Now turn around and bend so I can strap this on you.”

He did as he was told, crouching in front of her, to allow her to tie the sheet diagonally across his body and over one shoulder. Belinda fought not to notice the way his muscles rippled and tensed when she touched him. She had a vision of the two of them topless and her pressing her breasts against his back as she tried to wrap her arms around him. The urge to act out the pictures in her mind was almost overwhelming, and her hands shook with the effort it took not to succumb.

“Done.” Belinda stood back and found her eyes drifting down to his beautifully round backside. Something else she shouldn’t be thinking about. Or touching. Her fingers itched, and she took a step back. No. Touching.

“Now we have water.” Her voice was low and husky, giving her thoughts away. She cleared her throat, but it didn’t help. “Try not to pop the condoms.”

“I’ll try.” He smirked at her, making her think he could read her mind. Belinda felt her cheeks burn and looked away.

“Let’s get going,” she said.

“How did you know to do that trick with the bamboo?”

She wiped the back of her mouth with their hand. “Maybe, just maybe, I’m not as dumb as I look.”

“I never said you were dumb. I said you were dramatic. An actress. Everything is an act. It’s hard to tell what’s real.”

“The water feels pretty darn real to me.”

“Seriously, what movie did you see that in?”

“Of course, because I only know movies. Come on, we need to get going,” she said as she walked past him and headed into the jungle.

She left him staring after her, his tiny mind trying to figure out how she could know something that wasn’t movie trivia. Infuriating man. She should have kept the water to herself.