Tom knew there’d be no persuading Joel now, and briefly he considered letting him go, letting the group split, but he still believed at some level that it was important they lost no one else. And instinctively, in his core, he knew that if they let Joel lead a group to that fire, the chances were high that another death would follow.

“Who do you want in this little reconnaissance group?”

Joel looked taken aback for a moment, perhaps thinking Tom would have put up more of an argument. “Okay. How about the three of us?” When neither of them objected to that, he added, “Maybe a couple more—Chris, Nick.”

Tom nodded, glad that he hadn’t mentioned Kate or George, Shen or Barney. He wanted them to stay behind, because he felt sure they’d get the others to safety if something went wrong. And as he exchanged another look with Alice, it seemed they’d both accepted that they would go along with it, but that they also both suspected there was a chance they’d never make it back to the river.

CHAPTER 35

When they got back to the camp, Mila was looking after Chloe. Kate and George and Shen were busy by the river, though it didn’t look like they’d started fishing yet. Barney was sitting next to the fire, being watched by a couple of the others as he used a knife to take apart his backpack.

He looked up at Tom. “Hope you don’t mind—I took the knife out of your backpack.”

Joel sounded put out as he said, “I didn’t know there was another knife.”

Tom ignored him, replying to Barney instead. “I don’t mind. What are you doing?”

Barney looked down at the deconstructed backpack. “It’s a work in progress, but it occurred to me, what with the nylon and the frame, it makes the perfect basis for an oar.”

Tom smiled, impressed by his ingenuity, his inventor’s curiosity, but the smile fell away as Joel said, “That’s great, although I’m hoping we won’t be needing it.” Barney’s face fell in disappointment and Joel raised his voice to address the whole group. “We’ve spotted some smoke rising up on the other side of the hill, so some of us are going to investigate. Chris, Nick, I want you two to come with us.” A chorus of questions rose up but Joel raised his hands to quiet them. “We don’t know anything for now. It’s definitely a human fire, but we need to check it out, to be sure it’s people who might want to help us. I’m sure it will be, but if it isn’t, we’ll retreat back here and use the boats like we planned all along.”

Alice offered a whispered correction to Tom, saying, “Like you planned all along.”