Page 102 of Uncharted

“I’m good. There are two branches. I’ll push you up.” Which means I have to put my knife back in its sheath.

“Okay.” Haley’s whispering. “One. Two. Three—” She flings herself toward the tree, and I make sure I’m between her and the boar. She’s right; the beast is on us. The sky lights up, and thunder claps as Haley reaches the tree. She jumps for the branch, her fingertips barely ringing the thin tree. I push her ass up as the boar comes at me. With another shove, she’s straddling the branch. I, however, am not. And if I turn, he’s going to gore me from behind. His tusk grazes the side of my leg. Pain shoots up my calf. The rain sheets to the ground.

Thunder cracks, and lightning hits the top of the island. The boar squeals, running toward the waterfall.

“Fuck.” I reach up for Haley. “Let’s get out of here.” She takes my hands and slides out of the tree into my arms.

“Sam, did it get you?” Her eyes flick to my leg.

I look down too. “It’s a scratch.” It’s more than a scratch, but it’s not horrible.

“Right.” The tone of her voice lets me know she doesn’t buy it at all.

“It really isn’t bad,” I say.

“Why did you come out here on your own?” She’s shouting into the storm, her arms crossed over her chest. Her discarded stick is back in her hand.

“I wanted to see the waterfall that you all talk so much about. I thought I’d make it back before it started storming. Why did you come after me? Wait, don’t answer that. First, let me say thank you. If that boar had come all the way to the waterfall, there wouldn’t have been anywhere for me to climb, other than jumping into the pool. Not only that, but I was mesmerized by the beauty of the place. I wouldn’t have noticed it. And I was crouching. It could have hurt me badly. So, thank you.”

“Are you mad at me? No, wait. I’m going to do the same thing you did and say don’t answer that. I get it, you’ve gone back into captain mode. You want to get the Rock Candy up and running. Get us back to safety.”

“Get you. I want to getyouback to safety. And I suppose I wasn’t avoiding you so much as keeping you safe.” I laugh into the rain. “And somehow I imagined the beach camp as safe.”

“It is, besides the boars. And that’s only the second one I’ve seen down here. But then Calvin said their pattern would change as the rainy season drags on.” There’s a clump of wet hair stuck to the side of her face. “I’ve missed you.”

Lightning flashes across the sky, lighting up the dark clouds, and Haley jumps. “Sorry, I’m not a fan of storms.”

“I know. Let’s get you out of here, Sugar.” I wrap my arm around her, and we huddle our way back to camp. I’ve been warned about how much she hates storms, but this is the first time I’ve been with her during a big one. By the time we get close to camp, the rain is slashing our sides. Calvin and Easton are standing under the kitchen tent. I’m not sure who is holding who back. But there’s definitely a debate verging on a fight going on between them. So much so that they don’t notice we’re here.

“Where the hell did you two go?” Somehow, Calvin appears even taller than normal.

“I went to the waterfall like I told Dante,” I say.

“He told you to go to the stream.”

I mimic his stance. Arms crossed, feet shoulder-width apart.

“Calvin, it’s fine. We’re back.” Haley places her hand on his arm, water dripping from her fingers. Calvin glares at me as if I’m the reason it rained.

“It’s storming. We were worried that you might be scared,” Easton says.

“I wasn’t worried, Sassy,” Dante’s voice booms from the top platform in the treehouse. “I know you can take care of yourself. It’s the damn stream, not the red-light district in Karachi. You’re sweet, but you’re not going to melt.”

“If you’re done with the interrogation, can you let them come up?” Zane says.

“Fine,” Calvin and Easton grunt together.

I see Haley’s eyes flick to my leg. It’s bleeding, and I want to clean it up. But I get that she doesn’t want to tell the others about the boar, not now. Letting them cool off will be better for all of us. I follow her and take the rungs built into the tree, doing my best not to show off my glorified scratch.

Zane’s holding open the flap to the sleeping platform. And I’m taken aback. I’d forgotten how nice the place is. It’s dry, comfortable, and even smells good. Clean earth with citrus. They’ve added so many cushions that the whole floor is practically a bed. Penny’s lying on a towel in the corner of the room, nosing at a box. A box with two blue eyes glowing out of it.

“Has Penny caused any problems with Pepper?” I ask.

“No, she wants to lick her. Which Pepper isn’t sure about.” Calvin runs his fingers around the cat’s head, and it purrs loud enough to be heard over the rain. Penny looks at me and drops her head. It’s Penny’s overtired look, her I’m-going-to-sleep-for-ten-hours look, and I couldn’t be happier.

“You’re bleeding,” Easton says, and he smacks the side of my calf.

“I got a scratch. It’s nothing.”

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