It was already late in the morning when she finally opened her eyes, and tore a clump of grass off her face. It took a few minutes before her mind made sense of the last day’s memories, and hit her with them. She shot up.

“You!" She pointed at Sveta. "You were supposed to wake me up! Did you sleep on your watch?!”

“No Miss." Sveta answered. "Leg hurt, could not sleep. Woke up Nata later. Let you sleep. We need you strong?”

“Oh.”

She wanted to argue but could see logic in that. The girls wanted to thank her for saving them, and wanted to be useful themselves. She could respect that. And she needed that rest.

Better yet, they were not idle in the morning. They tied the bamboo together into a narrow raft, using ropes made out of grass. Sveta sat astride it, with her injured leg propped up on the prow.

“Howd’ya girls made the rope? " she marveled.

“It is not rope Miss. This spleteny kak kosye.., uhh as hair twist together?" Nata tried to explain.

“It is braids!" supplied her sister.

“You two braided what looks like…ten meters of rope? Out of… grass? Did you spend the whole night doing this?”

“Oh no Miss, this very easy. Spent half of morning. We live together, two sisters. Lot of practice braiding hair. Make other thing too, friendship bracelets," Sveta said and returned to absentmindedly twisting another length of braid. Seconds later, she tossed Candace a braided loop.

“Strewth, color me impressed. I guess being raised with two brothers I failed to learn a useful trick or two." She put the bracelet on her wrist. "We’re besties now?”

“Yes Miss! You are best friend for saving our life." Sveta nodded enthusiastically. "Also, you tie rope to the bracelet, tie rope to us and the little boat. Help not drown or get lost?”

“Good idea, kid." She would prefer a sash across her chest, but this was good enough.

She tested the raft girls made. It looked sturdy, and was shaped a bit like the dinghy she found them floating on. It was not buoyant enough for the three of them to hop on, but enough to keep Sveta manageable and mostly dry. The morning was much colder than yesterday's noon, and Candace already felt the cold swampy water chilling her bones. At least one of them would not be losing energy due to heat loss.

For a while, the girls debated trying to weave the grass into mats, to clothe themselves with. Apparently, artistic weaving was also one of their idle bourgeoisie skills. Unfortunately, it turned out to be way too slow of a process, so they all decided to cover themselves in blankets of grass clumps they uprooted. It itched, and there were bugs in it, but at least it stopped the wind from sucking out heat from their tops, the way water cooled their bottoms.

Finally, they set out. Candace took the point, feeling the way with her bamboo staff, and pulling the raft, with Sveta on it, after her. Nata took the rear, one hand tied to her sister's, wh in turn was tied to Candace, like captives in a slaver’s caravan.

Candace started their slow trip with a litany of 'don'ts' she wanted to drill into their heads. 'Do not drink the swamp water, no matter how thirsty you are, it’s full of germs. Do not lose sight of what is in front of you, lest you step into a sinkhole or on a poisonous snake. Don’t pee with your bottom underwater, that is the second easy way to allow bacteria inside your body. Don’t piss off your glorious leader, if you do not want to be planted into the marsh head-first.'

Soon, they reached the edge of the bamboo fields. Going forward was impossible. The bamboo grew so thick they would never cross it. The hill loomed just beyond it, but could just as well be on the Moon.

The route to the left was clearer, but seemed to stretch forever and disappear over the horizon without any visible access to dry land. The route on the right opened into an oxbow lake that in the light of the day looked much wider than she thought. Its bend seemed to disappear behind the reeds, and lead towards the hill. It seemed like there was a mild current pushing in that direction, at least, the surface scum seemed to be moving towards it.

“Alright Darlings. It's about to get much deeper soon, and we'll have to swim. We will try to cut right and then left, over the bend. If there is a bit of a flow, it might carry us, without us spending too much effort. Sveta, lay flat on the raft and hold on tight. No sudden moves or ya flip yourself bottom up, we do not want that. Nata, you gotta hold on tight to the stern but do not put your weight on it, got that?"

She saw confusion in the girl's eyes, but her older sister quickly translated, letting her continue.

"Just lay flat on the water, hold the rope tight, and paddle gently with your legs. I will pull the raft into the current, and then its piece of piss from there, the water will carry us where we want it, ok?”

She saw them nod and prepare, but their complete silence was a testament to how scared they were. Less than a day ago, they were attacked by a shark. Now she wanted them to brave swimming unknown, dark waters with nothing but a bundle of sticks for a boat.

She strapped the rope across her chest, giving herself a bit of slack so that her feet would not hit the raft on the kick-off. She sighted, and braced herself. Another day of hard yakka, no different from yesterday, or the years before it. At least this was doing what she was best at, punching and kicking water away to propel herself forward, while towing some hapless galahs who could not swim their way out of a bathtub.

She handed the staff to Sveta, and pushed hard with her feet putting the raft in motion. In the same swift move, she dove forward and added the momentum of her kick-off to it, pulling their floating caravan into the current.

The water in the river’s knee looked deceptively calm, but the flow was substantial. She barely managed to right them with it, without capsizing the raft. In minutes, they were in the middle of the river, gently accelerating towards their destination hidden behind the bend. A few strokes later, she allowed herself to look back and check on the girls. Sveta laid flat on the raft with her eyes closed, while Nata was pushing forward with grim determination.

The water was flat as a mirror around them, barely betraying the current underneath. Or, as she noticed with rising panic, it was almost flat. There were several V-shaped waves coming in their direction, each underscored by a dark shape swimming right under the surface.

“Nata! Stop! Hug the raft!" she shouted. The girl did as told, nearly flipping the raft over in panic.

“You two do not move! Keep your legs and arms close to the body. There is something in the water. Big. “

“Is it shark?!" Nata asked.

“Of course it's not a fucking shark!...well, maybe. I don’t know. Just. Hold. Still.”

She took her bamboo spear and dove down, letting the dinghy pass her and grabbing the stern. That way, she was the first and the last line of defense between their aquatic pursuers and the girls. Fucking deja vu, she thought. Didn’t she have that particular brand of adventure not two days ago?

Unlike the ocean, the river was nearly completely opaque. She tried to spot the approaching creatures in the water, but it was like trying to peer through pea soup. Desperate, she tugged in her limbs and flailed her spear around in defensive circles.

Something grabbed the bamboo and tore it off her hands with unrelenting force. She resurfaced, gasping, causing the girls to cry in fear. The cry immediately reached another peak in volume, when several furry heads popped around them, each as big as a lion’s.

She hugged Sveta and Nata so they could not be grabbed away from her, and partly to prevent them from flailing in panic.

“Do. Not. Move. " She whispered through clenched teeth.

One of the creatures came closer, flying through the water like a graceful torpedo, and grabbed the edge of the dinghy with its front paws. It sniffed Candace curiously, smearing fish-scented saliva over her face and neck. Another dove at her from below, and nosed her nether regions. She steeled her will to stay still and not kick it, she knew that this was not a fight she could win.

Soon, more giant otters, for this is what the animals must have been, swarmed over them, examining them curiously. They grabbed them with their eerily human-like front paws, and explored with their wet noses with all the gentleness of an over-excited dog. It seemed like they meant no harm, at least not yet. When one of them almost pulled Sveta off the raft, Candace gently pushed it off, and it simply swam away huffing in annoyance, rather than attacking her.

“Eto vydry?” asked Nata, now more fascinated than afraid.

“Yes, this vydry, otters," answered Sveta, looking at Candace. "They not danger, yes? We are safe? "she asked.

“Yes kids, these are otters, cute as a button. But please keep still and do not move yet. They look nice, but I'm quite sure they're meat-eaters, and big as wolves, we do not want them to be crook with us.”

The otters followed them until they passed the knee of the river, and reached a natural beach where the sandy hill sloped into it. Candace pulled the raft ashore, and helped the girls out of the water, scanning the surroundings for dangerous wildlife. When no obvious danger showed itself, she dismantled their raft and used some of the bamboo staves as a splint and crutches for Sveta, and as makeshift spears for her and Nata. She looked up, at the hill looming over her. It was much steeper than she thought, and densely overgrown with evergreens.

“Sveta, there is no way I'm hauling your arse up there. Not in the state you're in. Maybe the hill is easier to climb on the other side, but I'm not sure we want to try that route either, crawling through the bushes. I think you two should stay here and wait for me.”

“No! Do not leave! "Nata grabbed her arm, pleading.

Stolen story; please report.

“Oy, unhand me. Stay here and wait for me. Do as told, understood?”

“But what if the otters come? Or a different animal? "Asked Sveta.

This was actually a good point. If they had fire or shelter she could just leave them to fend for themselves for an hour or two, but they had nothing but sticks to defend themselves with.

“See that tree? The one with low-hanging branches? "She pointed. "Nata and I will climb up it, then pull you up on it. Otters don’t climb. You would be safe. Like monkeys! Monkeys climb trees to escape predators, and humans are kinda monkeys, right?

“Human are apes, Miss.”

“Oh, shush. Apes, monkeys, same thing, the point is, you would be safe because otters cannot climb.“

“Bears climb! "said Nata.

“No they don’t! "she answered, unconvincing even to herself.

“Yes they do! And jaguars climb! And big snakes!”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, go up the rootin’ tree Nata, or I clout ya ‘round the ear!

She fumed for a while, but the girls did as told. The climbing part was easy enough, pulling Sveta up, not so much. In the end, Candace had to crouch down, piggyback her, and then shoulder-press the girl up, as she tried to pull herself on top of the lowest branch. Thank fuck for the life of an insane workout regimen and irresponsible steroid use, otherwise, this would be impossible.

Once up the first branch, the girls managed to get higher on their own, until they were both as far up as they could safely go. Their terrified, and slightly miffed faces looked down on her, like a pair of big-eyed owls.

“Yous stay there, and do not climb down under any circumstances, at least until I come back, hear me?”

Staff firmly in hand, she went up the hill. At first, she tried to find her way around the clusters of evergreens, but this only caused her to meander around without going any higher up. Eventually, she decided to push through the bushes, disregarding the countless scratches and nicks on her exposed skin. Not having anything like a machete, she simply beat the bushes in front of her with the staff, breaking the branches to create a path.

She was only supposed to be gone for an hour, but the climb already took that long, when she finally reached the top of the hill. It opened into a small and arid plateau, just a table of dry, sandy rock where even the sturdy evergreens could barely find purchase with their roots.

Just as she promised, she stood up, reached for the sky, and shouted at the top of her lungs. She called for help in English, in Spanish, in Korean, and even shouted random words in Chinese, on the off-chance they were actually in China. When her voice got completely hoarse, she beat the trunk of a nearby bush with her staff to make as much clamor as she could.

Finally, almost mute and with her throat on fire, she climbed atop of the tallest bushy tree she could find to look around.

Her heart sank into her stomach. The hill was surrounded on all sides by an ocean of trees, only occasionally sliced with ribbons of water. Far, far in the distance she could see the river splaying into a lazy funnel, to flow somewhere beyond the misty horizon. The wilderness was absolute and pristine, not a single sight of civilization anywhere. Or…

Was that a wisp of smoke? Far off on the opposite shore of the river?

Yet, when she looked away for a split second, the smoke was gone. She stared intensely, willing it to return, to no avail. She could not say if it was her wishful thinking and imagination, or an actual sign of something burning. Fire usually meant humans, and humans meant a chance of rescue, no matter who they were. Campers? Probably not, not in the middle of this remote wilderness. Maybe loggers or forest rangers? Hell, she’d take her chances with a cannibal tribe over prancing around the swamp for all eternity.

She scanned the direction the supposed smoke was coming from, to burn recognizable landmarks into her memory. If they were to reach it, they would have to go around the hill about a quarter of the way, cross a klick or two of grassy meadows, and then somehow cut through the thick reeds to get back on the river. In theory, they could recreate the raft and sail all the way there, but that meant another confrontation with the otters. They were friendly the last time, but could she bet her life, and the lives of the girls that it will be the same on their second encounter?

She started climbing down the hill, along the path she carved on her ascent. She was three-quarters down when she heard the screams.

She bolted forward, nearly tumbling down the slope. If not for the staff to break her fall, she would surely fall face-first and snap her neck. Instead, she used it as a pole to vault forward, turning a tumble into a series of long jumps. She burst through the bushes without losing any momentum, the staff raised to strike.

The scene was unlike anything she expected.

The girls were still up a tree, but crawled away from the trunk and hung perilously atop of the thin ends of the branches. A giant predator climbed halfway onto the trunk menacing them and making noise, but it was the least expected beast Candace could imagine to find in this wilderness.

A nuddy-arsed obese human male. And judging from his pigmentation and his shouts, one of the Hispanic variety.

“¡Escúpelo, ahora!” the man shouted at the girls, futilely trying to pull his bulk up the branch, and grab Nata’s foot.

“Hey! Get away from them ya fat fuck!” she screamed. The man, startled, lost his grip and fell off the trunk, tumbling under Candace’s feet. He immediately tried to rise, so she whacked him over the head with her staff.

“Ay! ¿Porque? Estoy tratando de ayudar!“ he shouted, and tried to grab the staff away from her, only to get another hit on the shoulder that sprawled him on his arse again.

Candace stopped. Her Spanish was very rudimentary, but she got the gist. She hoped the man knew English, especially one punctuated with brutality.

“Help? The fuck you on about? Why are you grabbing my girls? Who the hell are you? Where the hell are we? What are ya doing in the woods, and why are you naked?”

The man covered his head from the blows.

“Stop hitting me, lady! Just came here. Saw her eat the berries. Stop with the questions! The girl! Must spit berries!”

“What? What berries?!”

“She ate…” he trailed off, looking for words in English. ”Jew berry?“

“What? The fuck’s a Jew berry?”

“Mierda.. maybe it's the wrong word. Dew berry? Bow-wood berry?”

“You mean yew? Yew berry?” she asked.

“Yes! Highly toxic! She must spit it out! Vomit out now! Deadly poison!”

Candace’s stomach filled with ice. What if the man was right?

“Nata, didya eat any berries?”

“Yes Miss… “ the girl answered, wide eyed.

“You damned idiot! Did I not tell you not to eat anything?!”

“No, you did not, Miss.” Said Sveta.

“Sveta, did you eat any as well?” She asked, trying to act calm.

“No, only Nata. She said she was very hungry.”

Candace considered the situation. The man could very well be a dangerous maniac, but if he was right, Nata was in deadly danger. On the other hand, if she climbed down, it would put her in his arm’s reach, and in possible danger as well.

“Right, cobber, you back off from the tree, no silly moves, hands where I can see them. Rack off all the way to the edge of the clearing, and stay there. Try anything funny, I’ll run that bamboo straight through your gut. Understood?”

The man walked away, and slumped down on a fallen log.

“Nata, get down.“ She ordered.

The girl climbed down, shaking in fear.

“Darling, did you really eat the berries? From that tree?”

Nod.

“You must vomit them out. Do you understand?”

“Ask her if she bit the hard bits inside!” shouted the man.

“What? The stones you mean? The seeds?”

“Yes! The poison is in the seeds. If she bit through them, she is dead.”

Nata understood enough to turn gray. Sveta gasped, and tried to climb down.

“Ya stay where you are Sveta. Don’t need ya to snap your neck falling down.“ She turned back to the younger girl. “Now, Nata, did you bite the seeds? The hard little bits? Or just swallowed them?”

“Not bite. Eat berry fast, no biting.“ Nata answered quietly, staring at her own feet.

“How many berries?” shouted the man again.

Nata gulped, and didn’t answer.

“How many berries did you eat Nata?!” she shouted, shaking the girl by the shoulders.

“I do not know! Seven? Maybe eight! “

“Are you sure?”

“No…”

Candace growled in exasperation.

“She eat nine berry.” Said Sveta.

“Are you sure? This is rather fuckin’ important!”

“She eat nine. I saw. I am sure. I promise.” Responded the older girl solemnly.

“Alright. Now, Nata, You are going to put two fingers in your mouth, deep. Press on the back of your tongue. You must puke. Vomit. Understood?‘’ - she tried to be as calm as possible.

“I can not…”

“You want to live ya dumbarse? I did not save your fucking life twice just so that you could die of terminal fuckwitery! Make yourself puke or I will do it for ya!”

“Wait.” Said the man calmly. “Can I come help? Promise no… silly moves.”

He approached, wary of the sharptip of the bamboo spear pointing at his throat.

“We need to make sure she vomits every seed. We need to find them and count them.”

“What do you suggest?”

“If we had a bowl or a tray she could puke on it, and we would count. But we don’t. We must use our hands.” He said, watching Candace’s face scrunching in disgust.

“Bloody hell. I’ll make her hurl, you cup your hands, mate. Put those manly paws to use.”

She swiftly grabbed Nata in a hold, and rammed two fingers down her throat. The girl struggled and choked, but soon her mouth gushed out a stream of pink foam, with jelly-like bits of berries in it. Candace let her go, and helped the man contain the puddle of sick.

“ Nata, sweetheart, If you survive this, I swear I'm going to spank your arse purple. Bloody teenagers…”

The girl did not respond, and crawled back to the trunk of the tree, heaving and sobbing. Sveta managed to climb down, against Candace’s furious glare, and hugged her sister tight.

The man slowly lowered his hands and spilled the contents over Candace’s palm, drop by drop. She sifted through it, separating the stones and counting them. She found eight.

“Shite. I'm missing one. Sveta, you sure it was nine? Absolutely, swear-on-your-sister’s grave sure? Because that might actually be the case if she still has any in her belly.”

“ I am sure, Miss. It was nine berries. I saw her take them, one by one.”

She looked the man in the eyes. He was just as worried as she was, and did not look scary anymore. In fact, he looked like a pudgy, harmless sook of a bloke. He reminded her of an oversized toddler more than a man.

“What is the lethal dose?” she whispered.

“Supposedly one or two seeds is enough to kill a small child. She is a teen, so…”

“Yah, but she’s what, forty-five kilos? Fifty? She’s tall but lanky as a stick. So, as much weight as two small children? She’ll survive, right?”

“I don't know, lady. I’m a chemist not a doctor. I do not know how bad it is, and how to help her.” He said, dropping his eyes.

“Chemist? Can’t you make an antidote? Cure?”

“How? We are naked in the woods. Even if I knew what to do, I would have no tools or ingredients.”

“Maybe we make her puke again?” She doubted it would work, but what else was there to do?

“We might try it. She must drink some water first, her stomach is empty. Maybe it will wash the seed out”.

“Not sure you noticed, but the water around here is chunky with gunk. Won’t that make her worse?”

“Worse? No. It will likely give her diarrea, maybe cause more vomiting. But in this situation, it is good…-” he paused, “or at least not worse. We can help her with belly problems later, but not with poison.”

“Alright. There is a beach nearby, though some critters lurk there. We walk there, make her drink as much as she can, hurl again. Do it again and again until she's purged?”

“That's a plan-” He nodded, hesitating. “But there is another place. Further away, but the water there is cleaner. Only…”

“Only what?”

“I will lead you there. But promise you will not be mad, and not hit me again. Remember, I am trying to help."