we’d have to walk to Ghansi—which could take a week or more. The poachers could hunt for us at their leisure.
I had to keep them optimistic. So I forced a smile onto my face and assured them everything would be fine. None of them looked very convinced, Sam least of all. His face was grave and his eyes constantly searched the horizon. Miranda looked dazed, as if she’d mentally checked out of the situation, and I wondered how she’d hold up. If she slipped back into a state of shock, I wasn’t sure I could keep her moving, and the others might follow her. They all looked as traumatized as I felt.
“We’ll starve to death out there,” Kase intoned, his gaze wide and distant. “We’ll die of dehydration. Or we’ll—”
“Stop it,” I said sharply. “We’ll make it.”
He blinked, his eyes refocusing on me. “We’re in the middle of a
desert
.”
“Semidesert,” Avani and I said simultaneously. Joey groaned.
“Look,” I sighed. “I know it sounds bad. It
is
bad. But if we stick together and be smart about this, we can
make it. Will you trust me?”
I looked at each of them, hoping none of them would see that I barely trusted myself. But they nodded reluctantly.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s load up.”
Everyone climbed into Hank and we set off. It was almost sunset by then, and we drove deep into the bush before stopping in a nondescript thicket far from the ruined camp. We decided the girls would sleep in the Cruiser tonight, and we’d switch with the guys the following night. The day after that—if we were lucky—we would reach Ghansi.
We were starving. I searched in vain for
tsama
melons, tubers, anything edible, but darkness fell quickly, and my efforts turned up nothing more than a handful of shriveled berries.
“Great,” said Joey tonelessly, staring at his meager share.
“You’re alive, aren’t you?” Sam said.
“For
now
.”
“Shut up, man,” snapped Kase. “We’re doing the best we can. We don’t need your whining to make things worse.”
“My whining? It’s your girlfriend who’s complained nonstop since the airport.”
Kase, who’d been relaxing against a tree, stood up then. “Watch it, dude.”
“What?” Joey shrugged. “Everyone’s thinking it.”
“Leave him alone,” said Miranda. “He just wants attention.”
“
I
just want attention?” He gave her an exaggerated look of offense. “Oh, the irony! This coming from our own Kim Kardashian. Here’s an idea—why didn’t someone bring a satellite phone with them? Huh? Geez, what I’d give for one right now. Why didn’t your Daddy Warbucks send one with you, huh?”
Kase swore at him, but it was Miranda who jumped to her feet and slapped Joey full across the face. He staggered back, eyes wide in surprise, but then he blinked at her and laughed.
“You slap like a
girl
.”
“Dude, you need to take a walk,” said Sam softly.
“Oh, yeah, here comes Mr. Strong and Silent. Did you stop to think we might not be in this mess if it weren’t for
your
girlfriend?”
“What?”
Joey threw out an accusing finger at me. “Your dad left us in this mess. Honestly, who runs off to God knows where and leaves a bunch of kids on their own in the wilderness with fricking lions
and homicidal maniacs for company?”
In the distance, a chorus of jackals began their nightly howling. The sound was so natural that I usually didn’t even notice it, but tonight, it made the hair on my neck stand on end. The others stared with shocked round eyes from Joey to me.
“You don’t know anything about it!” I said. “If it weren’t for you, I could have found my dad by now! But no, I have to babysit a bunch of incompetent city kids while my
dad
is hunted by a bunch of murderers and my only friend lies buried in the sand!”
I regretted the words even before I said them, but Joey had touched too many nerves tonight and I was burning with anger. How dare he blame my dad? I wanted to slap him
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