Still in shock I rang the blood out of my shirt. Karen and I looked at each other at a loss for words. How many times had we almost died? I had lost count. With no time to spare we quickly hiked further down the mountain fearing that the gang would find the tombs first.
As we hurried down Karen said "They've probably found the treasure by now."
"Don't be so glum," I said.
Karen: "There's something I didn't tell you. If my theory about the treasure's location is correct, it's deep underwater. They won't be able to reach it for a long while."
Me: "Okay but there wasn't scuba divers or submarines back then"
Karen: "That's why no one would ever think to search for it underwater. However, when they built the tombs, supposedly thousands of years ago, a lake north of here was just a regular valley. After examining old maps from that region I realized that over time water flowed there and created the only new lake in this place"
Me: "How are we going to get to it?"
Karen: "I brought scuba gear but only for myself. Just one of us can dive underwater to find the treasure. Since it's possible that you'd find another way to exit the tomb and leave with the treasure that person has to be me. I'm sorry, I can't trust you enough yet."
Me: "You really think I would do that? Fine."
Karen: "It's not you, my life hasn't made me the most trusting person. But nevermind that, we have a bigger fish to fry"
Me: "But before we can fry it we have to catch it, probably deep underwater, in a lake spanning miles. How are we going to manage that?"
Karen: "My original plan was to scuba dive a few hundred times until my lucky break but at this rate the bandits have probably taken over the place so we might have to improvise."
Karen and I continued hiking north through the grass, leaves, over fallen down trees, and through streams while the sun was setting until we came to the top of a small mountain. Just a mile or so below us the lake filled most of my FOV and near the lake there was a cloud of smoke arising from the trees so we decided to investigate it. We briefly admired the sun setting under the tall mountain ridges making the sky and clouds shine with a burgundy hue then decided to scout out the camp to see what exactly was going on. Our plan was if they were bandits we would try to gather intel on if they had found the treasure and if they were friendly maybe they could help us. Now at the camp, we hid behind two boulders and began listening. Even though I knew this was a risk we had to take, I couldn't help but feel protective of Karen. I peeked through the tiny space between the boulders. There were three of them sitting around a campfire eating and chatting.
"I haven't had this great roasted meat in forever! Remind me again, what is this catch?"
"Who cares, we'll be eating like kings soon after we hand it over to the boss. And you better agree we will hand it over" said an older black man with an eye patch sternly.
"C'mon Matias, I know that you want to keep it for yourself."
"Do you know what I want to keep, fool? I want to keep my head and if you don't shut up she'll take -"
Matias looked straight into my eyes and my heart pounded.
"Matias knows we're here" I whispered. Karen glared at me as if it was my fault. To be fair it was definitely my fault. Karen looked through the space between the rocks then, after short consideration, immediately started climbing up the boulders.
Matias yelled raspily: "Come out from behind there, hands high, in 10 seconds or we will shoot. Obey us and you'll be just fine."
Matias's yells were forceful but calm. I was surprised by the calmness considering his situation. It was like he'd done this a hundred times before. For me, thinking of ways out of this was to no avail.
Matias: "Do we have an understanding?"
I hesitantly walked out into the open with my hands up as Karen was perched on the top of the towering boulder.
Matias: "We can't have potential threats such as yourselves endangering our people."
As I walked into their field of view, hands up, Karen jumped off the boulder and onto the shoulders of the eye-patched man causing him to fall face first right next to the fire. At the blink of an eye, she placed her hand over his wrists creating a handcuff, hoisted him up with her other hand turning him into a human shield, removed her hands from his wrist, took Matias's pistol out of his holster, and firmly placed the muzzle onto the back of his head.
"I won't hesitate. Remove the magazines from your rifles or else." She said forcefully, looking with fierce intensity at the bandits who had their hands on their rifles.
"Do we have an understanding?" Karen said impressively.
The two bandits glanced at each other and removed their magazines hesitantly. As they were doing this she untheathed her catana with her right hand. The unsheathing made the nice "shring" sound of metal sliding across metal and I realized it was a real sound, not just a sound effect on TV. Still holding the gun in her left hand she placed the sword at Matias's throat. Then she turned on the pistols safety and tossed it to me. I aimed in between those bandits with shaky hands. Using my survival tools against animals was a whole different emotional experience compared to having a humans life in my hands.
A bandit: "We've done what you asked. There is no need for this tension. Put your weapons down and we'll tell you what we know about the treasure. That is what you both are here for, isn't it?"
Karen: "Intelligent try but I'm not falling for it. Shoot the bullets left in the barrels of your guns up into the sky."
Well whaddayaknow; bullets stay in the barrel after you remove the clip. They were going to shoot us or use their leverage to their advantage in some major way if we didn't know that. Thank god Karen was there because I sure wouldn't have known; it was my first time holding a gun. The bandits shot some of their bullets into the sky but Karen realized that their barrels had not been fully unloaded. This I figured out on my own. She made them press down their triggers some more until she was sure that the barrels were empty. I wonder if they would have shot us if they could get away with it. Their eyes did not contain that lifeless and sociopathic gleam that you might expect from people with their job. They were like anyone else's. Maybe they are poor and have little choice of whether they hunt for treasure, I thought.
Me: "Let's take Matias with us. He could be very useful if we ask the right questions."
Karen: "Great idea. Let's go."
A bandit pulled out their weapon and aimed it at Karen.
Bandits friend: "Are you crazy?!"
The bandit aiming the gun: "A little. But I'm also a damn good shot. And you know what? I don't think she has it in her."
Karen pressed the blade closer to Matias's throat.
Karen: "I'm only going to tell you once. Put the gun down."
The bandit aiming the gun got a certain look on his face that I can't quite describe. His face seemed to show defiance, anger, and determination. I'd never seen that look before but somehow I just knew. I knew that he was going to shoot. Or at least I thought I knew.
With only a split second to decide I aimed the gun down to the bandits leg and shot. The bullet pierced through the skin and bone of the opposite calf that I was aiming for and blasted out the other side. Lucky shot, I hope. The bandit bellowed and echoed his cry across the forest. I almost felt sorry for him but I knew that what I'd done had been necessary or at least made sense at the moment. Even if it only made sense at the moment, was it really my fault? I had only a fraction of a second to make the decision; to shoot or not to shoot. I believe that I did well considering the circumstances. But it still haunts me to this day a little. But then. Then it got easier. Too much easier. That story will have to wait.
The wound was kind of gushing. The bandit's friend rushed to get a handkerchief out of their backpack and then empathetically wrapped it tightly around his wound and applied pressure to try to stop the bleeding. The cloth was quickly soaked by blood. Karen, me, and Matias backed away as Karen and I kept focused eyes on the bandits.
Once the bandits were out of sight we removed our glare and I started walking more swiftly half of my feet submerged in redwood leaves and twigs, the tall grass going up to the middle of our calves. I quickly looked up at the sun shining down through the redwood and oak trees blinking from being covered and then uncovered by branches and leaves as I walked forward.
Me: "Cm'on, we should hurry up. They could be back with reinforcements and who knows how many of them are out there."
Karen: "Your right but they've already seen us walking this way, it's too predictable. I've found some caves down by the base of the lake during my research of the geography of this place. It would be a good spot to settle down."
As we headed to the caves Matias secretively grabbed a bullet from his ammo pack strapped to his side and dropped it to the grass and leaves. He did this again and again until unknown to us, there was a trail of bullets leading to our cave.
Per Karen's request, I took the gun from her and pressed it against the back of Matias's head. She unzipped her backpack and took out a roll of ducktape. Karen made Matias put his hands behind his back and then, rotating the ducktape role clockwise around his hands, wrapped ducktape around them creating a ducktape restraint. We didn't even have to interrogate him. He immediately spilled the beans.
"You will not find what you seek. All that you will find is bloodshed. There is something in those tombs. Whatever it is, it's already killed half of our people."
"Really?" said Karen. "You expect us to believe that a big scary creature or some magic is tearing your people to shreds."
"I don't expect you to believe it but I am telling the truth," Matias said.
Karen remained skeptical. "How do you know that your people aren't lying. How do you know that half of your people haven't run off with the treasure and gotten paid a few of you to say that they have died fighting some big scary monster to stop you foolish half of the bandits from chasing them down?"
"I didn't consider that" said Matias. "But I doubt it. I am good friends with a few of the higher-ups. They told me that they have seen the thing butcher people as if they are butter with their own eyes."
"And what is this "thing"?" said Karen.
"No one really knows what it is. All that people can see is a flash of light followed by screams of terror when it kills people" he said.
Karen just sighed. There was a long pause.