“Actually, Tom said that, but yes. However, we’re aiming for a break in the hills in that direction, so even though it means walking farther before reaching the river, that’s the route we should take.”

Joel smiled at him, a patronizing smile even after all that had happened, and said, “That’s great, but we know there’s a natural path in that direction.”

Tom noticed Kate looking at him with horror, because, of course, it was the path on which Naomi had been taken by the jaguar, the path on which they would once again have to pass her abandoned sneaker. Only Tom knew that it was also the path on which Jess had tried to walk to her death the night before.

Tom said, “Actually, there’s a better natural path in the direction Shen’s talking about. There’s a fallen tree across it at one point, but otherwise it’s more open.”

With an expression that suggested it was against his better judgment, Joel said, “Okay, so we’ll head in that direction and see how we get on.”

People started to put on their backpacks, but Barney said, “Oh, I’ve managed to find some poles if anyone wants them.”

He walked over to the fuselage and picked up a bundle of poles, what looked like aluminum tubing from a tent frame. Tom couldn’t help but be impressed, that he’d found them and thought to use them.

Not everyone saw it that way, and Nick said, “What good are they?”

The implied criticism seemed to wash over Barney and he just shrugged. “None at all really, I mean, unless you want something to knock branches out of the way, or cobwebs, things like that.” He didn’t need to say anything else—there was an immediate rush to relieve him of the poles, and it was funny to see Chloe in particular telling him he was “an absolute saint.”

Barney picked up another pole of his own, then, smiling at Tom as he did so—it looked like he’d also found some heavy duty gaffer tape and had attached the other knife to the end of it, creating what looked more like a fishing spear than anything else. Standing there holding it, he really did look like a character from Lord of the Flies, and Tom wondered if anyone outside of AP Lit knew how that story ended.

CHAPTER 26

They set off in a long single file, like one of those old-fashioned expeditions to find the source of some river, usually carried out by pasty Europeans who were clueless about the environment. In that regard, they were just like one of those old Victorian expeditions—lost, poorly equipped, with no realistic idea of how they’d survive for more than a couple of days.