Page 13 of Green Ravens

“Shelter,” Oakley said, flashing his small light into the trees.

“It’s far safer than down here with the poisonous frogs, spiders, and snakes all looking for food.”

They crept along for another hour, stumbling over massive roots and freezing at the sounds of nearby growls before Oakley came to another sudden stop.

Oh, thank god.

Sawyer was exhausted and in immense pain, his face burning as if he were lying on a bed of embers, and worse, hispain medicine was wearing off with each weary step, but he refused to complain.

“About fuckin’ time I found something.”

“Found what?”

He tried to search around, but all he saw was darkness.

“An animal that’s at the top of the food chain.”

Sawyer followed Oakley’s gaze high up into the trees and almost swallowed his tongue at what he saw.

Holy shit!

“What the fuckin’ fuck, Oakley? I’m not going anywhere near that goddamn Pterodactyl,” he snarled.

Oakley’s low chuckle was infuriating.

“Calm down. It’s a harpy eagle and not even a full-grown one. They rarely attack humans, especially if they’re not nesting…which I don’t see one.” Oakley gripped the low-hanging branch and started climbing. “And it’s highly unlikely we’ll find any snakes or large game near him.”

“I said, I’mnotgoing,” Sawyer was an ocean man… He hated land animals. He didn’t trust them.

He’d gone into the Navy, not the Army or Marines, for a specific reason.

“We’re not going all the way up there where he is. If we leave him alone, he’ll leave us alone. So get your ass up here, Chief.”

Sawyer ripped open his side pocket, “I have an electric lighter. Won’t a fire keep the animals away?”

“The leaves aren’t dry enough this close to the bank to keep it burning,” Oakley murmured from overhead. “And even if we got one started, the smoke could attract attention we don’t want. We need to stay presumed dead.”

Of course. That makes sense.

At least Oakley didn’t explain his reasoning in a way that made him feel ignorant.

“I knew that. It must be this damn drug messing with my reasoning,” he mumbled.

Oakley kept climbing.

Sawyer was glad Oakley didn’t try to coddle him or reach out to offer him a hand. He already felt like a burden from how slow he walked and his lack of on-land knowledge. Oakley probably would’vejoggedfarther inland, but he must’ve known Sawyer couldn’t keep up.

So he was making camp for the night.

It didn’t take long for Oakley to navigate them through the maze of thick limbs—climbing the massive tree like it was a hobby he did every day—before he found a cluster of wide branches with a nook deep enough for them to settle into.

Once Sawyer finally groaned and grunted his way to him, Oakley positioned him between his legs and leaned them back against the rough bark.

His heart flipped when he felt cool hands tug the collar of his jacket higher until it covered most of his chin.

“Mosquitos in the Amazon are worse than anywhere in the world, in my opinion. But they can’t get through our camo.”

They didn’t speak for a long moment, and each time Sawyer flinched at a foreign screech or a bug that lit up near his face, Oakley held him a little tighter.

---