Chloe laughed, a single unpleasant laugh. Her face was red, not with sunburn but with the heat, and her hair was matted with sweat.

“You seriously think we can walk out of this jungle, with snakes and jaguars and who knows what else. And that’s before you even get to the river. You’ll all die.”

“Chloe’s right,” said Chris.

“Maybe,” said Tom.

Chloe became even more outraged. “Maybe! That’s all you can say to defend such a stupid plan?”

“This isn’t a debate. A group of us are walking out in the morning. Stay or come, your choice.”

“It’s not a choice, it’s ridiculous!”

Tom didn’t answer this time, determined not to get into a discussion about it.

Barney was willing, though, and said, “There’s something else you should consider—”

Chloe interrupted. “Uh, when we want your opinion we’ll ask for it.”

Barney was silenced, looking stung. But with a flash of anger, Alice stood and stared directly at Chloe as she said, “Hey! Barney’s walked to the wreckage, built the stairs, got the toilets working, helped put up the mosquito netting. What have you done?” Chloe tried to answer, her mouth moving but forming no words under Alice’s fierce glare. “Exactly. Now if Barney’s got anything to say, anything at all, I suggest you listen.”

She sat down again, her face set, the fury barely contained. Tom noticed Chris nodding a little to himself, suggesting he’d been on the receiving end of that anger a couple of times in their shared childhood. Barney was blushing, almost as red as the people who’d been working on the bonfire, and appeared disinclined to speak ever again.

But Joel said, “Alice is right, of course, and if we don’t listen to each other we won’t get anywhere. Barney, everyone’s hot and tired, but I want to hear what you were going to say. I guess it was something about the problems of staying here.”

Despite everything, Tom felt like shaking Joel’s hand for that intervention, and didn’t only because he didn’t want to embarrass Barney even more. He looked at Alice instead and smiled when he caught her eye. She smiled back, embarrassed herself, and having just seen her in full fury, he felt like he was seeing for the first time that she wasn’t just pretty but really beautiful.

Barney cleared his throat. “All I was going to say was, it could be dangerous to leave, I mean, it will be, but I think our chances of surviving more than a few days here are pretty slim. This is a hostile environment, and forget the risk of starving or dying of thirst, forget the dangerous animals, there are parasites and insect-borne diseases, just too many ways of getting sick.”

“But it’ll be worse in the jungle,” said Chloe, sounding afraid now, the fight gone out of her.