Page 84 of Wild Life

“You know, just reminding myself to breathe. And to lift one foot off the ground at a time while walking. And to not eat glue.”

His gaze softened. “Make sure to pace yourself.”

“So, how was your trip?” I broached the topic gently. While I had been in treatment, Malcom had been the one to facilitate the study of the bats. He’d organized a team, since I had been incapacitated, and they’d leaped into action quickly, using the coordinates that Eli had found on the radar.

For now, we had exclusive rights to study the island since the bat population was suffering from disease. That helped to limit the number of visitors to just employees of the university.

“That place is wild as fuck. How did you possibly survive there for that long? Jesus.”

“Yeah, it was pretty unruly.” My feet were still healing from the blisters.

“We found the colony you discovered and were able to administer the loading dose and the maintenance dose of the antifungal.”

“Oh, good, how did they handle it?”

“Pretty well, from what we can tell.”

“And what about the other species?”

“There are so many varieties that it’s been difficult to track all the roosts down. We’ve tagged as many as we could to monitor them, but it’s turned into a bigger job than I had expected. Identifying all of them could take months before we’re able to ensure that no other species are infected. I tapped in a few graduate interns to stay back with Keats and Mahoney until I can make it back out there next month.”

My head swam with what an enormous undertaking this had turned into. “God, that’s a really big project.”

“No kidding.”

“You know, I’ve been researching the use of beneficial bacteria topically, and I think that could be helpful as an adjunct to maintenance treatment. Perhaps introducing it into their water supply. When I was there, I observed a large number of individuals drinking from a specific water source. Maybe we could lace the water so it’s introduced into their gut biome?”

Malcom tapped his lower lip. “That’s not a bad idea at all, especially if we can protect the ecosystem in the water source from the bacterial treatment.”

I paused, bracing myself for what I was about to ask—what Iwantedto ask. “How is he?”

Malcom leaned back in his chair and folded his hands in his lap. “Are you sure you want to know?”

Oh God, was it that bad?

My heart fell into my stomach as I nodded. “I want to know.”

“He told us where we could shove our nets.”

I laughed so hard that I snorted. It was impolite, but the image of Aleki—the grumpy, half-naked jungle-dweller—telling a group of reserved scientists that they could shove their mist nets up their asses was hilarious. “That sounds like him.”

“How did you live with him for that long? He’s a scary dude. He made Keats cry.”

My mouth fell open. “Oh no, what happened?”

“Keats asked him if he knew where the waterfall was, and Aleki growled at him. Never seen Keats so ghostly pale before—not even when a jaguar almost attacked him.”

I giggled. “He is pretty disagreeable at first meeting…was.You know what I mean.” I sometimes forgot I wasn’t still with Aleki, and when the realization hit, it was like the floor had fallen from under me.

“I know exactly what you mean,” Malcom said, pretending not to notice my stammering. “And his pig is worse.”

My eyes widened. “Poaka?”

Malcom rubbed his head. “Shit, it has a name?”

“What did he do?”

“He tried to eat me.”

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