Alligator Eyes

Chapter 6

The jungle is nothing like the woods back home. The floor is shaded and cool, maybe a little swamp like. Mark looks around uncomfortably. Somehow this place is both familiar and strange in a way he can't exactly explain. Jinyoung looks right at home, walking with ease, if not a little cautiously, leading their party deeper into the trees. Most of the sand has dried and fallen off of him, but Mark can tell that its still plastered inside his clothing and has to be rubbing on him uncomfortably. He wouldn't mind a bath himself, even though he changed his clothes, he can still feel the sand between his toes.

They walk for hours, exactly how long though Mark can't tell, he can't see the position of the sun to tell the time and with how thick the foliage from the trees is, he can't guess based on any shadows either. He looks up anyway, its impossible to tell where one tree ends and another begins, the leaves and rubbery branches are so tangled.

"Have you ever been in the jungle before?" BamBam asks, surprising him. He thought they weren't speaking.

"No, the swamp near my home is somewhat similar though" It was similar, but not similar enough, the swamp was dark and depressing, almost cold even in midsummer, something about it kept the village away. Mark alone has ventured into and his reward was the clothes on his back.

In contrast, this jungle is full of color and life. Bird calls and other animal calls come from all angles. It is vibrant and wonderful and terrifyingly vast. Mark is in awe of it. How Jinyoung can just keep trekking forward without wanting to stop and admire all the plants and insects—some of which Mark has never seen before—is beyond him.

"Is that where you fought that alligator?" BamBam asks.

"Yes, for my clothes"

"Did it have to be an alligator?"

Mark can't read his expression. "No, it could have been anything, but in that moment, I wanted to go find it in the swamp, and this is what I found." He runs his hands down the hard scales covering his abdomen.

"Was it easy?"

"No... but it was worth it" Mark stops briefly, pulling up the end of his garments to show the inside of his right thigh, three huge scars run perpendicular his leg, they healed badly, the scar tissue ugly. "I thought I would bleed to death, but somehow, I dragged the alligator far enough that my brother found me. He saved my life, I've never forgotten it."

BamBam sucks in a breath, it could be the trick if the light, but Mark thinks he is turning a bit green. BamBam doesn't say anything after that, walking a little quicker to catch up with Jackson. That is usually peoples reaction to seeing the scar for the first time. His family and the healer are probably the only ones accustomed to it. Sometimes even Mark finds it jarring.

"That's quite the story" Jinyoung says when Mark catches up with everyone else, who have stopped are passing around a flask of water. "If its true"

"It true," BamBam says, his color still not great. "He's got the scar to prove it."

"Lets see it then"

Mark doesn't like the look in his eyes, and doesn't move to show them his leg. He doesn't care whether or not Jinyoung believes him. So they stand opposite each other, looking each other in the eyes, until Jaebum taps his brothers chest, pointing down the direction they were heading. He holds his hand around his ear, and a finger to his lips. They listen, finally hearing running water over the bird calls.

"Perfect, we'll camp up there for the night, that will give us time to set up some cover."

They find a spot close to the river, but one that still has some tree coverage, Mark can see now, through the break in the trees, that its mid afternoon. He helps Jaebum and Yugyeom collect sticks and logs, some for the fire and others to build the cover Jinyoung wanted. Youngjae and BamBam go off together into the trees to hunt while Jinyoung and Jackson take BamBam's pot and boil the water from the river in it.