As she walked, Kendra stopped dead in her tracks and looked around. Someone was following her. Her mind immediately thought of the General, but no, it couldn’t be. If he could see her . . . Suddenly she heard rustling in the leaves from the other direction. This time she could tell it was the General. Kendra ran without another thought. She came to a tree. By the time this is over I could be a professional tree climber, she thought to herself. She pushed her body close against a branch of the tree hoping it would provide her with some sort of protection. Soon enough the General’s familiar figure appeared once again, his pistol pointed out in front of him.
She tried to push herself against the tree, but knew this was futile. He hadn’t noticed her yet, but she wasn’t sure how long that would last. It was near the end of the second day and despite what she told herself, she didn’t think she would survive another day of this. The General looked around the area. He muttered something she couldn’t make out. She leaned in slightly closer. Suddenly she felt two hands on her shoulder, then around her mouth. She eyes grew and adrenaline shot through her body. Her scream was muffled by the hands and she tried to pull away.
The hands pulled her back toward their owner’s body. She looked up at the captor. He gave her a look. “Be silent woman!” the voice commanded in a harsh whisper. Kendra immediately obliged and the man released her. She tried to speak but he gave her a look that told her to stop, and pointed down at the General. She nodded in understanding and the pair remained silent. Then what seemed like hours later, though it couldn’t have been more than five minutes, the General left to continue his search for his prey. Kendra let out the loud breath she had been holding in when she knew he was gone.
She immediately turned to the man beside her. “Will you please tell me what is going on?” she demanded with an angry scowl, pointing the knife at him. The man held both hands up in resignation.
“I apologize for startling you. I’m Sanger Rainsford. I was just trying to help,” he said honestly. Kendra studied him for a moment and sheathed her knife.
“You’re a captive here?” she asked, not taking her eyes off him. He nodded.
“Yes. I’m from New York; I was headed to Rio when I fell off my ship. I’m here the same as you, and I mean you no harm.” Rainsford looked at Kendra, inspecting her just as she had him. “And who are you?” he asked finally putting his hands down. Kendra looked at him for a moment before answering.
“Kendra Booth” she said, then hesitated for a moment. “And, well , I can’t tell you how I got here because that is classified,” she said more quietly. “Let’s just sum it up with a crash.” Rainsford raised an eyebrow.
“Classified, eh? Can’t see how it matters too much all the way out here,” he said, beckoning with one arm, the area around the pair. Kendra eyed the man.
“Well be getting out of here soon enough,” she said looking over Rainsford. “And well, if I told you, I would have to kill you, even after all this,” she said, trying at some humor, but due to the look Rainsford gave her, she doubted he knew that . Kendra suddenly felt uncomfortable and glanced at her hands. “How long have you been here? It looks like a while,” she said, gesturing with her head towards the beard that was beginning to form on his face. He smiled slightly and rubbed his beard.
“You don’t look so great yourself,” he muttered, then shrugged. “Not sure exactly, less than three days, I’d imagine, since I haven’t ‘beat him’ but it’s hard to keep track after a while.” Kendra nodded. “Though I imagine,” Rainsford continued, “it makes it more difficult, having to go through his ‘training program’ first.” Kendra shrugged.
“I wouldn’t know. I didn’t do it. You know, maybe we better start walking. It can’t be safe just hanging about in this tree.” Rainsford nodded and the pair hopped from their hiding space.
“So why didn’t you have to do it?” Rainsford asked as they walked. Kendra shrugged.
“Why bother trying to figure out a crazy person.” Rainsford laughed slightly. Kendra continued, “I assume it had to do with the fact I’m military. He seemed quite fascinated by that,” she said shrugging again.
“Military? Really?” Rainsford said studying her. Kendra nodded.
“Yes, I’m a colonel.” She looked at him with a slight smug smile. “And the rest is classified,” she said with a wink. Rainsford nodded, smiled slightly. “So what about you?” Kendra asked. Rainsford laughed uncomfortably. “Well, I’m, um … as the General puts it, an … expert hunter,” he said finally. Kendra stopped walking and turned to look at him.
“A hunter, eh? Well that is ironic, isn’t it?” she said before they began walking.
“Oh, you have no idea,” he said, rubbing his hand over his hair. Kendra quickly decided to change the subject.
“So I heard the general talking about you. You have been making traps?” she asked. Rainsford nodded.
“Yes, though sadly, nothing more than a dead dog and an injured shoulder,” he said. “How about you?” he asked.
“Well, I made four traps. He sprung one, but that only killed a dog.” They continued to speak about this for some time, discussing in depth traps and plans to get out of this mess alive. Eventually they slept, preparing for a new day and another chance to kill this monster.
