The group of three had traveled towards the end of the gazetted trail and were prepared to start the last stretch of trekking to the nearest aborigine village. By this time, Arash had been sweating buckets. He didn't feel so good as they had exceeded the time he had budgeted for the one-way trip by two-hours. He was skeptical that they could reach the village with another three-hours' time as proposed by the guides.

 

"Check all of your equipment. Last round."

 

Rob turned to his client to make sure he was fully prepared. He wasn't worried about his colleague, Mat. Mat was the best pathfinder from their small community of off-road adventuring. What made him worried was his well-off client; they had noticed that he had a slight limp on his right leg. His client must have injured himself before and was considered unfit for hard-core trekking.

 

However, he had thought things through, and for him the three hours of trekking was really not considered harsh. He would be fine with a light pace and ample rest. Additionally, the urgency shown by his client was genuine. He believed that his client indeed had an important matter to attend to in the aborigine village. He might be a researcher of some kind; they always had this stern and worried look plastered on their faces 24/7. Rob had assisted a few such professionals, and four out of five of these people had no basics in jungle-trekking, just like his current client. 

 

Both Arash and Mat gave a solid nod before they walked into the forest in a single file. Mat led the way, followed by Arash, and their rear was guarded by Rob. They moved with caution along a nonexistent trail, assisted by their GPS tracker, a compass, and a map, a mix of analog and digital technology, while Arash struggled to learn and adapt as much as he can. Their shadows disappeared in between thick foliage and gnarled roots.

...

 

Loud sounds of cicada had reached a crescendo at the moment as the sun had reached its peak. Although it was already noon, the forest floor was dim due to the never-ending canopy shielding off the harsh tropical sun. Arash and his two guides had trudged through the dimly lit forest for an hour by now. The nearer they were to their destination, all three of them similarly felt more positive. Although to Arash, the surroundings were just the same, he had noticed that the two guides could seemingly find all the nonexistent landmarks only known to them.

 

"Ah, finally, we've reached the ancient Chengal tree. It's still as majestic as always." Mat commented while watching upwards, most probably trying to see through the gaps of the lush leaves. The tree was slightly larger than the rest, with a circumference of six men holding each other's hand to completely surround it. To Arash, all the trees looked just the same. He couldn't appreciate the beauty of the foliage from thinking about his daughters and wife to adjusting his labored breathing. His lungs felt like burning. He was so exhausted but couldn’t find the words to tell his two guides since they were just breathing lightly and at ease. Arash lamented on how he should hit the gym more often after this if he intended to do more outdoor activities such as this in the future.

 

"True. From this point, we're a quarter in. Just a little more, Mr. Arash." Rob turned to Arash to encourage him. Arash was panting heavily.

 

"A quarter only?" He sighed. Does it mean there are three more hours of trekking left?! He clearly remembered that Rob had said it should be 3-hour trekking previously.

 

"This is considered quite good. We have a policy to reduce the pace to accommodate beginners in trekking." Rob smiled and worded his sentence politely to inform that they were a little behind schedule due to the client himself.

 

Understanding dawned on Arash's face as he nodded with acceptance, "Ah, I see. I'm grateful for your kind consideration." He really couldn't go any faster. He could feel a slight elevation during their excursion, which was pretty bad for his right leg. He had silently endured the discomfort and pain along the way.

 

Rob realized the pale facial feature of his client wasn't getting any better even after the short pause. He decided to help the guy out. "Let's stop here for 15 minutes to catch our breath, alright?"

...

 

Arash was resting over a large tree trunk covered in moss while trying his best to withstand the pain; he couldn't be bothered with the annoying sounds surrounding him. Arash's injured knee was hurting badly. He was totally alone at the moment.

 

Arash sighed helplessly while feeling at a loss of what to do.

 

Due to carelessness, he had lost his footing and fallen down after his right leg was stuck in between a particularly unnoticeable pit beside a tree root a while ago.

 

The worst thing was, the pit was actually the home of a frightening large snake! The ferocious snake lashed at him immediately due to his intrusion. Mat, who was walking in front of him had reflexively pushed him to the side to save him and was bitten on his leg! Although Rob had managed to kill the snake in the end, Mat was in a critical condition.

 

Arash watched Rob performing first aid for his colleague with a lump in his throat as he couldn't move due to the intense pain. A myriad of emotions had gone by his mind at the moment, mainly predominated by guilt, helplessness, and remorse.

 

What am I doing?! Hurting others like this? He was starting to doubt his decision to come into this forest.

 

After doing as much as he can for his colleague, Rob went up to Arash and rolled up Arash's right pants and was met with a purplish bruise. His client’s knee had swell so bad, it must have been hurting even before he fell. His face turned ugly. This was a really bad-looking sprain. Although Arash was not making any sounds, the beads of sweat flowing and the rapid breathing indicated that he was in immense pain. He immediately sprayed a coolant on the injured part.

 

"I can't do much, Mr. Arash. We should be able to find some ice in the aborigine village ahead to lessen your bruised knee. However, at the moment, I don't think you could move and follow my pace. I'll be frank. I've removed the venom crudely from Mat's calf, but he truly needs immediate medical attention. We should be able to get it in the aborigine village. I'm not even sure whether we could reach the aborigine village in time to save Mat. So, I really need to hike as fast as I can while piggybacking Mat. I'm very very sorry Mr. Arash! We need to go first. Please let me!" Rob lowered his head in guilt. But he needed to do this for Mat's sake. Between the two, Mat's condition was time-sensitive. He had to leave his injured client in favor of saving his colleague's life.

 

"Just go. It's all my fault, anyway. But please send someone over afterward." Arash lamented his bad luck. How could he not see the poor pathfinder's terrible condition?

 

Gratitude and guilty gushed out from within Rob. But he hardened his heart for his colleague's sake.

 

"The village is not that far anymore, Mr. Arash. You have two choices, either wait for help here or walk slowly to the village by yourself. Just open your compass. Follow this way straight. It's alright even if you're slow, you will reach the village soon, at the previous pace, it'll be no more than 30 minutes. You might need more than one hour with your knee's condition. Don't worry, we will ask for the villagers’ help to fetch you as soon as we reach the village!”

 

“Okay. You guys go ahead. I guess I will walk slowly to save some time. As I said, please send someone to meet up with me as soon as possible, alright.“ Arash painfully stood up and smiled weakly to them.

 

With the parting words, Arash's two guides vanished rapidly in between the lush greeneries.

 

Arash felt pain everywhere as he tried to move. Even if it was at a snail's pace, as long as he was walking, he was sure that there will be some progress.

 

How lucky that the first encounter his wife had with a snake was with a docile one? They were even so chummy now until it made him slightly jealous. That's one in a billion chance. How he wished he had the same luck.

...

 

Rob's heart lightened when the aborigine village entered his view. He immediately called for assistance from the villagers. Droves of bronze bare-chested men in shorts laced with dried leaves came over to help the two. Rob immediately told the villagers that they had another one en route, who was also injured, but not severely, which needed assistance to reach the village. The village representative immediately dispatched two men to search for Rob's client and lead him to the village.

 

Seeing how accommodating the villagers were to them, he felt so gratified. They even took him to meet the resident doctor stationing on the west side of their village. With the dead snake as a reference, the doctor had then procured an antivenom for Mat in time. Only God knows how fast Rob had walked while piggybacking Mat, he was practically running! Now, only time was needed to see whether the antivenom could work its magic.

 

A soft knock resounded outside the dilapidated hut, which had been turned into a medical center. The head of the village representative poked in as he signaled Rob to come out.

 

"Yes? Did you find Mr. Arash? He should be very near to the village already." Rob immediately inquired about Arash from the village representative.

 

"That's the problem, Mr. Robbie. We couldn't find anyone of your description. So we had sent more villagers to look out for the person a little further out. It might take some time. He must have veered off the path to our village."

 

Color disappeared from Rob's face as he was imagining the possibility of his client dying on his watch due to negligence. Colorful expletives threatened to spill out, but he tried his best not to be impolite in front of the village representative, Pak Jaya.

 

"I'll join you in your search. At least I could go to the exact location from before we separated."

 

"That will be best. We have excellent trackers to help out. We will find him sooner or later, dead or alive."

...