Andy took a breath. “To friends’ houses. To, uh, CVS. I go through the drive-through. Drive up to the college.”

“What drive-through?

“Taco Bell.”

“What do you order?”

“Two double-deckers and a bean burrito.”

Andy could feel his heart rate normalize, something he had Farah to thank for. He asked, “Do you like to fly?”

“Sure.”

“Doesn’t it bother you when the pla—I mean, helicopter—drops like that.”

“Not really. Reminds me of being on a roller coaster.”

“I’m scared of roller coasters.”

Farah rolled her eyes.

“What are you scared of?” Andy asked.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? Not even, like, Ebola?”

“Fuck Ebola.”

Andy laughed.

He laughed so hard his eyes began to water. By the time he composed himself, the helicopter was on the ground.

≈

“Welcome!” Alejándro Cala yelled over the loud screeching coming from the jungle canopy.

“What’s that sound?” Andy asked, the fading wash of the helicopter rotor whipping his orange-blond curls. It reminded Andy of the one time he’d gone to see a screamo band and been unfortunate enough to sit five feet from one of the speakers.

“Howler monkeys!” Cala replied. “The noise from the helicopter gets them riled up.”

“Wow, those monkeys are loud!” shouted Buxton as he, Farah, Libby, and Bernita joined them.

“They’ll quiet down here in a few minutes,” Cala said, who had either offered or been chosen to be their base camp liaison. He nodded toward a wall of green and said, “Camp is two hundred meters in.”

A narrow path was chopped into the wall of vegetation, and Andy and the others followed behind the portly Cala.

“Has anyone been to the ruins yet?” Farah asked as they entered the imposing cave of green.

“Not yet,” Cala shouted from up front. “The closest ruins are half a mile from base camp. Holland doesn’t think we’ll get over there today.”

“What?” Farah said. “It’s not even one o’clock yet!”

Andy was itching to see the ruins as well, but he was in no rush. They would be there for the next twelve days.

“I’m with you,” Cala said. “I’m ready to get over there and start some ground-truthing, but Holland is calling the shots, and he’s concerned about the weather.”

Farah let out a frustrated sigh.

After a minute or two of hiking, they could still hear the shaking of branches a hundred feet overhead, but for the most part the howler monkeys had ceased their screaming.

“Wow, this is thick,” Buxton said, pushing a large branch out of the way.

Andy pushed aside the same branch, thinking the author’s words couldn’t ring any truer. Even after it had been hacked away by who knows how many machetes, it was a gauntlet of green webbing,

A minute later, the jungle opened up and Cala exclaimed, “Here we are!”

Base camp.